ABSTRACT Iron deficiency is the commonest cause of anaemia in pregnancy in Africa. This study was to assess the iron status of pregnant women in Zaria, Nigeria. A total of 180 participants were recruited into the study and were divided into two groups namely: (a) Controls: These were 90(50%) apparently healthy non pregnant women (b) Subjects: These were 90(50%) pregnant women. Structured profomas’ were administered to consenting participants. Full Blood count, Serum ferritin, Urine and stool microscopy for parasites were carried out. The mean Haematocrit was 0.39 and 0.35 among controls and pregnant women (p<0.001). While none of the controls had anaemia, 11(12.2%) of the pregnant women had anaemia, 7/11 (63.6%) had frank iron deficiency anaemia while 4/11 (36.4) had anaemia due to other causes. The mean serum ferritin was 70.3µg/L in the controls and 26.0µg/L in pregnant women (p<0.001). A total of 23 (25.6%) of controls had iron deficiency in spite of a normal Haematocrit and are thus in the stage of iron depletion. Although 68 (75.6%) of pregnant women had iron deficiency, majority 61 (89.7%) have latent iron deficiency. Iron deficiency is a common cause of anaemia in pregnant women in Zaria and routine iron supplementation should be given to all pregnant women. Future studies should be aimed at finding the other causes of anaemia in pregnancy.