Best Countries To Be A Mother

[FairyGF]

Just saw this on-line and thought very interesting, especially with "Mother's Day" this weekend. wow...not surprised about the first five...way to go Canada!

IN ITS FOURTH annual “State of the World’s Mothers” report, due out this week, the group documents disparities among the 117 countries it surveyed. In the lowest-ranking countries, women die in childbirth at roughly 600 times the rate of women in the most developed countries, and their babies are 27 times more likely to perish during the first year of life. The United States, with its wide disparities in access to health care, ranks 11th. Maternal and infant mortality are higher here than in any of the top 10 countries.

10 BEST COUNTRIES TO BE A MOTHER
1. Sweden
2. Denmark
* Norway
4. Switzerland
5. Finland
6. Canada
* The Netherlands
8. Australia
9. Austria
* United Kingdom

10 WORST COUNTRIES TO BE A MOTHER
108. Angola
109. Chad
* Mali
111. Guinea
* Sierra Leone
* Yemen
114. Guinea-Bissau
115. Ethiopia
116. Burkina Faso
117. Niger
* Asterisk indicates tie

—Geoffrey Cowley

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Thanks for the info - interesting

 

[CathyCanada]

We may pay a lot in taxes, but it has paid off in our healthcare system, well the one of the past anyway...

It wouldn't matter where I was, it would still be the best place to be a Mom.

Thanks for the interesting info, Jen!
CC

 

[bsnyder]

I don't want to start a debate here, but I do want to point out something that I think is important.

When you look at the analysis that was done for this study, you'll find several things that "penalized" the United States, by bring down its' score, and they don't have anything to do with access to healthcare.

In the "Women's Index," along with such logical items as "percent of pregnant women with anemia" and "adult female literacy rate," The study includes a "political status" column, measured by the percentage of seats in the national legislature held by women. This accounts for most of the difference between the U.S. and European countries like Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, which rank at the top of the index and have more women in their legislatures.

More importantly, the "Women's Index" includes maternal mortality as a factor--as it should, given the purported purpose of the study. But the mortality rate is measured as the "lifetime risk of maternal mortality." The birth rate in the U.S. is much higher than in European countries like Sweden and Switzerland. By adding up the total "lifetime" maternal mortality risk, instead of assessing the risk on a per-baby basis, as would be logical, the study is penalizing American mothers for having more children.