Save the Children has issued their annual Mother’s Report Card.
Save the Children, a U.S.-based independent global humanitarian organization, today released its ninth annual Mothers’ Index that ranks the best — and worst — places to be a mother and a child. The Mother’s Index, highlighted in the organization’s State of the World’s Mothers 2008 report, compares the well-being of mothers and children in 146 countries, more than in any previous year.
Nordic countries sweep the top rankings of the best places to be a mother, while countries in sub-Saharan Africa dominate the bottom tier. Sweden tops the list, while Niger ranks last among countries surveyed. The United States places 27th this year, one slot down from last year’s ranking.
The US is dropping the ball, putting women and children’s lives at risk. Note some of the differences between the top 10 countries and the bottom ten countries:
The top-10 countries, in general, have very high scores for mothers’ and children’s health, educational and economic status, while the 10 bottom-ranked countries are a reverse image, performing poorly on all indicators.
Conditions for mothers and their children in countries at the bottom of the Index are bleak. On average, 1 in 21 mothers will die in her lifetime from pregnancy-related causes. More than 1 child in 6 dies before her fifth birthday, and roughly 1 in 3 suffers from malnutrition, and only 3 girls for every 4 boys are enrolled in primary school.
Overall, about 500,000 women will die of pregnancy-related deaths world-wide this year, partly due to lack of even basic health care.
PS in 2006 Save the Children ranked the US the 10th best country to be a mother and child. You can see we’ve made a huge slide downwards.
