The research puts maternal mortality rates below 500 deaths per 100,000 live births. A UN study in 2005 found 1,800 women dying per 100,000 live births.
The new study also suggests a dramatic decrease in infant and child mortality rates over the last five years.
Correspondents say the figures reflect improving standards in antenatal care but the overall picture is still grim.
The Afghanistan Mortality Survey (AMS) 2010 was carried out by the health ministry, and is the most comprehensive of its kind ever carried out in the country.
It was sponsored and funded by international organisations such as Unicef, the World Health Organisation, the US government and the British Department for International Development.
Experts are encouraged by what they say are dramatic improvements in mortality rates, but all the same Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a pregnant woman or a young child.
The 2010 survey reveals that infant and under-fives mortality rates appear to be decreasing, with infant mortality now around 77 deaths per 1,000 live births and under-fives child mortality at around 97 deaths per 1,000 child births.