Antigua and Barbuda has been ranked among the Caribbean Community's safest countries for maternal health, according to Antigua News Room, citing newly released United Nations estimates for 2023.
The UN data places a woman's lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes in Antigua and Barbuda at 1 in 2,108 — the lowest end of the scale across CARICOM member states. By comparison, Haiti recorded the highest risk in the region at 1 in 118.
Most CARICOM countries fell between 1 in 500 and 1 in 2,100, performing better than the global average of 1 in 272 and broadly in line with the wider Latin America and Caribbean regional figure of 1 in 789.
Looking back over two decades, progress across the region has been uneven. Suriname, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Dominica each recorded reductions in maternal mortality of 40% or more since 2000. Haiti also recorded a decline. However, three countries — Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Grenada — posted higher maternal mortality levels in 2023 than they did in 2000.
The pace of improvement has also slowed. Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the smallest regional reduction of any area worldwide between 2000 and 2023, at just 16.8%. Despite this, 8 of the 14 CARICOM member states have already met the Sustainable Development Goal target of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births — a benchmark set for achievement by 2030.
The figures are drawn from the report Trends in Maternal Mortality Estimates 2000 to 2023, published in 2025 by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Bank Group, and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
