Australia's mothers and babies

Web report

Last updated: 24 Sep 2024

Topic: Mothers & babies

Media release

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2024) Australia's mothers and babies, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 08 October 2024.

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Australia's mothers and babies. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mothers-babies/australias-mothers-babies

MLA

Australia's mothers and babies. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 24 September 2024, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mothers-babies/australias-mothers-babies

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia's mothers and babies [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024 [cited 2024 Oct. 8]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mothers-babies/australias-mothers-babies

Harvard

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2024, Australia's mothers and babies, viewed 8 October 2024, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mothers-babies/australias-mothers-babies

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Data source: National Maternal Mortality Data Collection

The National Maternal Mortality Data Collection (NMMDC) is a population-based cross-sectional collection of data on the deaths of women reported to have died while pregnant or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy. Data are provided by the states and territories.

Due to its health and privacy legislation, only limited summary data on maternal deaths from 2006 to 2021 were supplied by Western Australia. As these data provided are already aggregated, rather than provided by case, they cannot be included in the NMMDC but are included in analysis where possible.

Detailed information on completeness, accuracy and other aspects of data quality for the NMMDC is in the data quality statement.

National Maternal and Perinatal Mortality Clinical Expert Group

The National Maternal and Perinatal Mortality Clinical Expert Group (NMPMCEG) provides expert clinical advice regarding all components of the National Maternal and Perinatal Mortality Data Collections.

Data timeliness

NMMDC data are collected annually. Most states and territories need at least 12–18 months lead time to undertake post-mortem investigations, classification, data entry and validation as required after the end of a data collection period. Deaths subject to coronial inquiry may take longer to finalise.

Timelines for the reporting of 2021 maternal deaths data are outlined in Figure 1. These data were finalised and reported 23 months after the end of the collection period.

Figure 1: Months since the end of the 2021 calendar period and public reporting of data from the National Maternal Mortality Data Collection, by state and territory

For maternal deaths that occurred in 2021, jurisdictions required 17-20 months to collate, review and classify the deaths before data was provided to the AIHW.

Data availability

Detailed information on completeness for all data items in the NMMDC is available, at the national level, in the interactive data visualisation below (Figure 2) for 2012 to 2021.

The following definitions are used to quantify completeness:

Supplied: supplied an appropriate value for a proportion of records for the data item during specified collection year/s

Not supplied or not stated: proportion of values supplied as not stated or missing, where a jurisdiction has either supplied appropriate values for a portion of records or did not supply any value for all records for the data item during the specified collection year/s.

Figure 2: Availability of data in the National Maternal Mortality Data Collection

Western Australia data provision

Due to its health and privacy legislation, only limited summary data on maternal deaths from 2006–2021 were supplied by Western Australia. As these data provided are already aggregated, rather than provided by case, they cannot be included in the NMMDC so have not been included in Figure 1, above. However, they are included in analysis where possible.

Definitions used in reporting maternal deaths

Table 1: Definitions of maternal death
Type of death	Definition
Direct maternal deaths^(a)	Those resulting from obstetric complications of the pregnant state (pregnancy, labour and puerperium) from interventions, omissions, incorrect treatment or from a chain of events resulting from any of the above
Indirect maternal deaths^(a)	Those resulting from previous existing diseases or diseases that developed during pregnancy, and which were not due to a direct obstetric cause, but were aggravated by the physiologic effects of pregnancy
Maternal death, not further classified	Deaths considered to be related to the pregnancy or its management, but could not be further classified as either ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’. These deaths are included in the maternal deaths total
Coincidental maternal deaths	Deaths from unrelated causes that happen to occur in pregnancy or the puerperium
Unclassified death	Maternal death from unspecified or undetermined cause occurring during pregnancy, labour and delivery, or the puerperium

(a) Definitions are from the International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision, volume 2, section 5.8.1.

Chart: aihw.gov.au

For more definitions of terms used in this report, see the glossary.