The best and worst countries to be a mother

A US based independent global humanitarian organization, Save the Children, released its annual Mother's Index that ranks the best and worst countries to be a mother and a child.

According to the Index, mothers in Norway and Australia are living in the best places in the world.

According to Save the Children's 11th annual Mothers' Index, Afghanistan ranked at the bottom of the list of 160 countries, which included 43 developed nations and 117 in the developing world.

The Mothers' Index is emphasized in Save the Children's State of the World's Mothers 2010 report.

The report observes the many ways of women working on the front lines of health care that are serving to save the lives of mothers, newborns and young children, and make an urgent call to raise the figure of front-line health workers in the world's poorest nations.

The Index is based on an analysis of indicators of women's and children's health and well-being.

The Index clearly illustrates that providing mothers with access to education, economic opportunities and maternal and child health care gives mothers and their children the best chance to survive and thrive.

Top 10 best places to be a mother
1. Norway
2. Australia
3. Iceland
4. Sweden
5. Denmark
6. New Zealand
7. Finland
8. The Netherlands
9. Belgium
10. Germany

Top 10 worst places to be a mother
151. Equatorial Guinea
152. Eritrea
153. Sudan
154. Mali
155. Democratic Republic of Congo
156. Yemen
157. Guinea-Bissau
158. Chad
159. Niger
160. Afghanistan

Country comparisons:

• Fewer than 15 percent of births are attended by skilled personnel in Afghanistan and Chad. Skilled personnel are present at almost every birth in Norway
• The risk for a woman to die of pregnancy or childbirth related causes in Niger is 1 in 7, in Ireland it is less than 1 in 47,600
• In Afghanistan, child mortality rates are higher than 1 in 4, in Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg and Sweden, only 1 child in 333 dies before age 5
• A typical female in Afghanistan receives less than five years of formal education, in Australia and New Zealand, the average woman stays in school for more than 20 years

Source: news.malaysia.msn.com