Maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes. To facilitate the identification of maternal deaths in circumstances in which cause of death attribution is inadequate, a new category has been introduced: Pregnancy-related death is defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the cause of death.

According to the latest reports, Haryana Top's in MMR with 98 deaths per crore & Kerala at lowest with 42  per crore live births. The difference in MMR rates reflects the index of social progressiveness, medical infrastructure and general education between the two states.