Every day 800 women die in childbirth, the majority of whom live in developing countries, so in the U.S., it's easy to think of maternal mortality as a problem of the past or another part of the world. But new data show that — while dying during childbirth is still incredibly rare in the U.S., occurring in 25 out of 100,000 births — its maternal mortality rate is slowly moving in the wrong direction.

Now if you're going into labor tomorrow, don't let this headline scare you. While these stats are disturbing, YOUR own individual chances of a healthy birth are overwhelmingly high. This is more about an overall problem with our health care system. The report, created by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, a research group funded by the Gates Foundation, found almost every other country in the world has seen substantially fewer maternal deaths in the past 15 years.

Some other notable stats from the new data:

  • The U.S. rate rose from 23 deaths per 100,000 births in 2003 to 28 in 2013. The institute projects it decreased to 25 in 2016.
  • The U.S.'s rate is now higher than other less wealthy countries, like Iran, Vietnam, and Romania, whose rates decreased in the same timeframe.
  • The American rate has increased by 50 percent since 1990.
  • The U.S. was one of the only developed countries whose rate has increased in the past 15 years.

So what's going on here? Data on maternal mortality is hard to track, making it even harder to piece together the story behind these numbers. Right now, researchers have only a guess. 

When women die during childbirth in developing countries, it's usually because they don't have adequate health care, which can lead to infection or hemorrhage. But infection and hemorrhage aren't the main problems in the United States. It's serious complications from chronic health conditions, like diabetes and obesity.

"The really scary thing to us is all the deaths from cardiovascular disease and heart failure,” Dr. William Callaghan, who runs the Maternal and Infant Health Branch in the Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the New York Times. “It’s a quarter of all deaths. There were almost none in the remote past."

The confusion behind the American trend has led public health organizations in the U.S. to take a more active role in gathering data on maternal mortality, with many states starting maternal death review boards in order to understand and prevent the problem.

Regardless of the reason for U.S.'s maternal health problem, no mom should have to go into labor and delivery —what should be an exhilarating, life-changing experience—worrying that she could lose her life. Something must change and soon. Moms and babies can't wait.