Objective: To study the trend and characteristics of maternal mortality in China from 1996 to 2000.
Methods: Population-based epidemiological survey in 116 monitoring units in China were used.
Results: Maternal mortality in China dropped by 17.1% from 63.9 per 100,000 live births in 1996 to 53.0 in 2000, in rural area dropped by 22.2% from 86.4 per 100,000 live births to 67.2, and in urban area only 1.0% from 29.2 per 100 000 live births to 28.9, the leading causes of maternal mortality in China are hemorrhage, preeolampsia/eclampsia and amniotic fluid embolism the maternal mortality due to hemorrhage in national level and rural level has declined by 33.8%, 34.9% respectively.
Conclusion: The maternal mortality appears a declined trend on both the national and rural levels in China from 1996 to 2000, the maternal mortality due to hemorrhage dose also, bur the maternal mortality in urban area keeps unstable.