There is no worse place in the world to be a mom than in the west African nation of Niger. So says Save the Children’s annual Mother’s Index, which ranks the status of mothers and children in 125 countries based on 10 health and education criteria.
On the other hand, moms and their kids in Scandinavia are leading the good life, with Sweden coming in as the best place for them to live and Denmark and Finland following closely behind in second. The United States tied with the United Kingdom for 10th place on the list.
Burkina Faso was the second-worst country to be a mother; in fact, 10 of the bottom 11 countries — Yemen being the exception — are located in Africa. Mali was third from the bottom and Chad was fourth. The report showed a striking discrepancy between mothers in the top and bottom 10 regarding life expectancy and quality of life.
A mother in the bottom 10 countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before age 1 and more than 750 times more likely to die herself during pregnancy or childbirth.
The study found that women who are educated are more likely to postpone marriage and early childbirth, resulting in a higher level of health care accessibility and treatment for them and their families.
“The Mothers’ Index illustrates the direct line between the status of mothers and the status of their children,” Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children, said in a statement. “In countries where mothers do well, children do well; in countries where mothers fare poorly, children fare poorly. If we are to improve the quality of life for children, we must start by investing in the health and well-being of their mothers.”
The rankings were based on six indicators of women’s well-being, including maternal mortality, and four indicators of their children’s health.
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