PRIMARY CAUSES OF MATERNAL MORTALITY IN FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES

Relevance. Maternal mortality is a statistical concept related to the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of its termination, due to complications associated with pregnancy and childbirth, usually measured per 100,000 live births. Current statistical data indicate an uneven distribution of maternal mortality between countries that differ in their level of economic development. For example, according to UNICEF's estimate in 2020, Ethiopia had 267 deaths per 100,000 newborns, while in the United States this figure was only 21 per 100,000 newborns. This fact indicates a potential correlation between a country's maternal mortality rate and its inherent complex of socio-economic, cultural, and medical factors. Identifying and comparing the primary causes of mortality in women during pregnancy and childbirth in countries with different levels of economic development will help understand the reason for such a large difference between their indicators. That is why this study is the first step towards further improving the situation. For clarity of results, we used the classification of countries according to the UN WESP report, which divides countries into three groups, "worlds," based on their economic status and development prospects. According to this classification, economically developed countries belong to the "first world," countries with transitional economies to the "second world," and developing countries to the "third world."