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How Do Countries Compare in Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes? Updated Data Hub Has the Answers

The Midwives' Data Hub, launched by the International Confederation of Midwives with support from Direct Relief, allows users to quickly gain a sense of what's working in maternal and neonatal health and where.

News

Maternal Health

The Midwives Data Hub showcases a range of datasets looking at various aspects of maternal and neonatal health across countries and how midwifery plays a crucial role in those outcomes. (Image from the International Confederation of Midwives)
By Olivia Lewis

Looking globally at the health outcomes of women and babies and comparing those rates across time could be a daunting task for any researcher, but a newly revamped data hub aims to bring that information together — and provide insights about the path forward.

The International Confederation of Midwives, or ICM, a non-governmental global advocacy group representing more than 1 million midwives globally, relaunched a digital data hub in July 2025. The hub’s architects say the platform, which can be found on ICM’s website here, is structured to be intuitive and user-friendly for anyone who wants a deep dive into global maternal and infant health outcomes. Data scientists say they hope the public data can be used to help medical professionals advocate for better outcomes globally.

“When you see the data, when you see the country comparison, you can’t un-see it,” said Jessica White, who worked as the Global Midwives’ Data Hub Lead for ICM. “And I think when you know better, you do better.”

White is a cartographer and geospatial data analyst who has worked on midwifery, maternal and infant health-related data democratization, or making data more accessible to empower and inspire positive change, for the last six years.

The updated ICM Global Midwives’ Data Hub now allows users to compare countries side-by-side within three clicks.

For example, Norway has some of the best maternal and neonatal health outcomes in the world, and nearly 99% of births in the country are accompanied by a skilled medical professional. There are 9.4 midwives for every 10,000 people, according to the International Confederation of Midwives.

The country has a maternal mortality ratio of one maternal death per 100,000 live births. Only two of 194 countries that track the same data have better outcomes.

In Canada, the neonatal mortality rate is 3.3 per 1,000 live births, and the maternal mortality ratio is 12 out of every 100,000 live births, the lowest maternal mortality rate across North America. The United States isn’t far behind, but when the two are compared to Norway for the percentage of women using modern contraceptives, 70% of Canadian women use some sort of contraceptive, compared to 63% in Norway and only 53% in the United States.

White said the platform reflects the work of midwives, which varies across geographies. For example, higher-income countries historically have relied less on midwives. In countries that have fewer obstetricians and less access to skilled health professionals, birthing patients have relied on midwives for care. And trends can be seen over time, including impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Egypt, rates of maternal mortality consistently decreased over time. In 2004, that number was 43 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, but decreased to 19 per 100,000 live births in 2018. However, the country saw a sharp uptick in 2020 to 42 per 100,000 live births. The rate has since returned to the pre-pandemic ratio of 17 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023.

“There’s a paradigm shift from the way that we tend to look at healthcare,” White said. “We tend to look at it as outsiders and to see it from the mentality of the midwife, I think it’s really interesting. It’s getting back to change starts locally.”

White met with midwives from around the world to hear practical and pragmatic applications of data. Now, conditions from climate to conflict and crisis are considered for understanding health outcomes and to help others understand what factors that could help them improve conditions, especially in countries where fewer births are attended by skilled health professionals.  

“How can we do a better job of highlighting important and relevant indicators and insights so they can advocate more efficiently?” White said.

Namibia has also seen improvements. The country’s current maternal mortality rate is 149 out of 100,000 per live births, and the neonatal mortality rate is 18.7 per 1,000 live births. That’s a decrease from a peak of 547 maternal deaths in 2009, and 24 neonatal deaths per 100,000 in the year 2000.

Tekla Shiindi-Mbidi from the Independent Midwives Association of Namibia said the new hub has more visibility for midwives and shows the value of funding for and support of broader access to family planning through contraceptives.

“These numbers are trending in the right direction, but they remain above global targets,” Shiindi-Mbidi said during the ICM launch event in July. “The hub, therefore, helps us see the realities clearly, and it helps us make the case for change. At the same time, there are signs of progress.”

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