Almost 35 percent of counties in the U.S. — or 1,094 — are maternity deserts, according to an interactive map by March of Dimes.
This represents more than 2.2 million women of childbearing age who live in these counties that have no hospital with obstetric care, no birth center and no obstetric provider.
Deloitte Consulting and Deloitte Health Equity Institute supported March of Dimes with the creation of the interactive. It was released in March and is updated on a regular basis. The data is from several commercially available consumer marketing data sets and data from the CDC and U.S. Census.
Five states with highest percent of maternity care desert counties:
1. North Dakota: 77.36 percent
2. Nebraska: 65.59 percent
3. South Dakota: 60.61 percent
4. Alaska: 58.62 percent
5. Nevada: 52.94 percent
Five states with lowest percent of maternity care desert counties:
1. New York: 3.23 percent
2. Maryland: 4.17 percent
3. Vermont: 7.14 percent
4. Pennsylvania: 7.46 percent
5. California: 8.62 percent