2The Scandinavian country of Norway has been ranked as the best place in the world to be a mother while Somalia languished at the bottom of the table. United States was ranked at the 33rd place, two rungs below the 31st place it occupied last year in the annual scorecard released by Save the Children on Monday. The top spot was held by Finland last year.
This is the 16th annual Mothers’ Index released by the Save the Children organization. The report bases its findings on five parameters related to maternal health, education, income levels and the status of women.
According to the report, American women have a one in 1,800 risk of maternal death, the worst for any developed country in the world. It mentions that an American woman is more than 10 times as likely to die during childbirth when compared to a Polish woman.
The organization also compared the infant mortality rates in 24 of the wealthiest capital cities around the globe and found Washington had the highest rate at 7.9 deaths per 1,000. Scandinavian capitals, in sharp contrast, had a mortality rate of less than 2 deaths per 1,000.
All the top ten spots, except one are held by European countries, the lone exception being Australia at number nine.
Scandinavian countries have always been placed towards the top of the table. Finland which held the top spot last year has now been relegated to the second position.
France and Britain take the 23rd and 24th spot, below Canada which is placed at number 20.
All the ten bottom spots in the list of 179 countries are taken by sub-Saharan African countries. Nine of them are conflict marred. Haiti occupies the 169th position together with Ebola affected Sierre Leone.
The worst place for mothers, Somalia, was placed just below the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
The CEO of Save the Children, Carolyn Miles, said that the countries were ranked according to the policies put in place by their respective governments towards ensuring the happiness of mothers, and not on the basis of the country’s economic wealth.
In the case of Norway, “they do have wealth, but they also invest that wealth in things like mothers and children, as a very high priority,” Miles said.
