OBJECTIVE To determine the clinical features, as well as to present an analysis of the cases of maternal death during a period of ten years. METHODS A descriptive, transverse, retrospective and cases series research was carried out. There was a revision of the expedients of maternal death occurred at the Regional General Hospital number 36 in Puebla, from January 1st, 1996 to December 31st, 2005. They were selected the patients who passed away because of obstetric death. The data collection included the following variables: age, body mass index, education, number of gestations, type of labour, prenatal control, basic cause of dead, and the month and the year in which it occurred. The descriptive statistics was used with central tendency and dispersion measurements. RESULTS 75 maternal deaths were registered; one of them was excluded because it was not an obstetric cause. The maternal death rate was 63.46 per 100,000 born alive. The 17.5% corresponded to indirect obstetric causes and 82.5% to direct obstetric causes; the 73% were preventable, 27% were no preventable. Forty-eight cases corresponded to ages between 21 and 34 years. Forty-six cases corresponded to mothers with 2 to 4 pregnancies. In 43 cases they had a level of education which ranks between elementary and junior high school. In 31 cases they had a body mass index of 21 to 26. The eclampsia was the cause of maternal death in 20 cases and the obstetric haemorrhage in 16 cases. There were appropriate prenatal controls in 38 cases. CONCLUSIONS The maternal death cases corresponded to an average age women, multigravidas, no obese, and apparently appropriate prenatal control. During this period there was a tendency to the decrease of obstetric haemorrhage and an increase of the preeclampsia-eclampsia as causes of maternal death.