others in the UK are three times more likely to die around pregnancy than those in Norway and Denmarksuggests a new study.
Researchers wanted to compare maternal mortality rates in eight European to land.
They found that Slovakia had the highest maternal mortality rates of the countries studied.
The UK had the second highest death rate.
It comes after a major new survey found that maternal mortality rates have risen in the UK.
The new study, conducted by an international team of researchers, including academics from the University of Oxford, examined data on millions of live births in Denmark, Finland, France, Italythe Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and the UK.
The UK data includes information on more than two million live births between 2016 and 2018.
They found that maternal death rates during pregnancy and up to 42 days after the birth of their child ranged from 2.7 per 100,000 live births in Norway to 10.9 per 100,000 in Slovakia.
In the UK there were 9.6 maternal deaths for every 100,000 babies born.
Maternal mortality remains an important health indicator for the quality of care provided and the performance of the health system.
In all eight countries, maternal mortality was higher among the youngest and oldest mothers.
In seven countries, mothers born abroad or from ethnic minority backgrounds had a risk of maternal death of 50% or more. The finding was wrong in Norway.
Researchers said heart disease and suicide were the leading causes of death.
In the UK, blood clots were also a leading cause of death among new mothers.
“Despite its rarity in high-income countries, maternal mortality remains an important health indicator of the quality of care provided and health system performance,” the authors wrote in their new study, published in The BMJ.
“Maternal mortality up to 42 days after termination of pregnancy varied by a factor of four, from 2.7 and 3.4 per 100,000 live births in Denmark and Norway to 9.6 in the UK and 10.9 in Slovakia.”
The authors said cardiovascular disease and the mental health of new mothers should be “a priority in all countries” and called on countries to learn from each other best practices to reduce deaths.
It comes after the latest MBRRACE report – a leading review that tracks the health of mothers and their babies – suggested maternal deaths are on the rise in the UK and Ireland.
The report found that 229 women died during or up to six weeks after the end of pregnancy in 2018 to 2020.
This gives a maternal mortality rate of 10.9 women per 100,000 babies born – 24% higher than in 2017 to 2019.