To determine the incidence of maternal mortality associated with non utilization of obstetric services and how socio-demographic and medical factors influence the deaths of pregnant women. A retrospective study of information extracted from hospital records on live birth, antenatal attendance, age at death, parity, educational level and cause of death was reviewed, the study covered data from thirty General hospitals in both urban and rural areas in Kano state for a period of 6 years from 1^st January 2005 to 31^st December 2010. Data collected was analyzed for pattern of antenatal care, hospital live delivery, age at death, obstetric causes of death and maternal mortality ratio. There were 2,310,727 antenatal attendance 1,886,932 live deliveries and 3,062 maternal death during the period under review given a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 1625/100,000 live deliveries. It was also discovered that mean age at death for pregnant women for urban areas was 28.8 years and rural 27.6 years. Both antenatal and hospital live deliveries had irregular pattern. The major direct causes of death in urban area was eclampsia and bleeding cases while in rural areas bleeding cases followed by eclampsia and obstructed labor and then anemia were more prevalent.

temporal, analysis, maternal mortality, Kano