Every three years, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases a report on maternal mortality. In Australia, maternal deaths are reported by the health department, hospitals, physicians, midwives, the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and the coroner's office. Data are analyzed using the confidential enquiry methodology, in which a group of experts investigate all of the details pertaining to a maternal death.

This report contains numbers of direct and indirect maternal deaths by specific cause, such as obstetric hemorrhage, amniotic fluid and air embolism, thrombosis and thromboembolism, cardiac disease, and psychiatric causes. It includes a synopsis of each death, and clinical comments relating to each cause.