By Alyssah Hall | Black Voice News
June 17, 2025
Alyssah Hall
Across the country in 2021, there were 13,409 certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives and 3,195 who were students, according to the most recent data from the U. S. Government Accountability Office.
Of the 13,409 certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives, just 7.3% are Black/African American. A May 2025 report titled “Where Are All the Black Midwives? published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, examined the lack of Black midwives in the U.S. The article noted that despite studies showing improved birth outcomes such as reduced rates of preterm births and maternal mortality for Black women, in 2021, just 12% of all births in the country were attended by midwives.
But, no data currently exists that shows how many of those births were attended by Black midwives.
