MORE women are dying during pregnancy or immediately after childbirth because they are getting fatter and older, a report warns.

Some 225 women died in the UK between 2014 and 2016 while pregnant or in the six weeks after birth, the latest figures show.

This is equal to 9.8 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies and is up from 200 deaths – or 8.5 per 100,000 – in the three years from 2012 to 2014.

It comes as more women are delaying a family in order to attend university, pursue a career and save to get on the property ladder.

Pregnancy rates are falling for women of all ages apart from those over 40, which are up 2% in a year and have more than doubled since 1990.

Those aged 40 or over have three times the risk of dying during or after pregnancy compared to those in their early twenties.

Mums-to-be who are overweight are also more likely to suffer complications, have larger babies that require C-sections, or develop blood clots.

Almost six in ten women in the UK are now overweight or obese.

The death figures are published in the Saving Lives: Improving Mothers’ Care report, produced by the University of Oxford.

It examines the care of women who died by suicide or other mental health conditions, blood clots, cancer, severe bleeding or were murdered.

The report says: “While we were once able to assume that pregnant women were by and large young and healthy, this is no longer always the case.

“Women now are often older, heavier and have more complex physical and mental health conditions when they become pregnant.

“They may be vulnerable in other ways too. They are therefore at higher risk of pregnancy complications.”

Researchers also found black women are five times more likely and Asian women two times more likely to die than white women.

They said more action is necessary if the government is to achieve its goal of reducing pregnancy-related deaths by 50% by 2025.

This includes raising awareness of the signs of illness and supporting women to take medication while pregnant if it is safe for the baby.

Study leader Prof Marian Knight said: “Women and their families should be reassured that the number of women dying as a consequence of complications during or after pregnancy remains low in the UK.

“However, preventive treatments such as vaccination, or continuing medication in pregnancy, may be essential to keep healthy, particularly for women with known physical and mental health conditions.”