Correlation between Human Development Index and maternal mortality rate

Abstract

Objective (s): Human development is about the realization of human potentials. The aim of this study was to understand the relation of human development index and its subsets on maternal mortality.Methods: This was a descriptive analysis of information derived from Human Development database and the World Health Organization data from 1990 to 2010 for 135 countries.Results: The average maternal mortality rate in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010 for the Asia, Europe, Africa, America and the Pacific were 202, 23, 637, 134 and 12 (in 100000live births), respectively. The highest human development index was reported for Oceania with the value of 0.882 and the lowest reported for Africa with the value of 0.430. From 1990 to 2008 the average maternal mortality rate has fallen 2.1 percent annually.Correlation between maternal mortality and the human development index were -0.879. The maternal mortality rates were correlated with life expectancy, per capita income and education -0.886, -0.515 and - 0.827. (P value <0.01) There was also a significant relationship between livings in different continents and maternal mortality (P value <0.05).Conclusion: Human development index is one of the best indicators and predictor for understanding health in different countries. Improving these indicators might improve maternal health.

Keywords

• human development
• maternal mortality
• life expectancy
• education