Unsafe abortions contribute to 13 percent of maternal deaths, about 68,000 per year. Abortion-related complications contribute to a relatively large share of maternal deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean (where legal restrictions on abortion are common) and to a lesser degree in Asia and Africa. The case fatality rate for abortions, however, is highest in Africa. Increases in the proportion of births assisted by a skilled birth attendant have been dramatic in Southern Asia, Eastern Asia and the Pacific and (from higher initial levels) in Latin America and the Caribbean. Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind other world regions with only 41.
