India recorded the second highest number of maternal deaths in 2020, coming second at 24,000 to only Nigeria which saw 82,000 maternal deaths in the pandemic year. However, there has been an

overall reduction of 73.5 per cent in maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in India — deaths per lakh live births — between 2000 and 2020, findings from the latest United Nations’ report on

Trends in Maternal Mortality released February 23 showed.