NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In Finland, a woman’s chance of dying due to pregnancy is one in 12,200, one of the factors that makes it the best place to be a mother. In Somalia, rated the worst place to be a mother, the risk of death is a scary one in 16.
This mothers' index is part of State of the World's Mothers, an annual report by Save the Children released on Tuesday which ranks 178 countries around the world according to five factors: maternal and under-five death rates, expected number of years of formal schooling, gross national income per capita and the percentage of seats held by women in national government.
The top performers are in Europe, while the bottom ones are African countries that have a recent history of armed conflict and are defined as fragile states by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“Ending preventable deaths of mothers and children will not be possible until fragile countries become more stable and health care more accessible,” the Save the Children report said.
Here are the rankings:
Top 10
1) Finland
2) Norway
3) Sweden
4) Iceland
5) Netherlands
6) Denmark
7) Spain
8) Germany
9*) Australia
9*) Belgium
Bottom 10
169) Cote D’Ivoire
170) Chad
171) Nigeria
172) Sierra Leone
173) Central African Republic
174) Guinea-Bissau
175*) Mali
175*) Niger
177) Democratic Republic of Congo
178) Somalia
*Countries are tied
Source: State of the World’s Mothers
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