A Mother's Day Report Card 2007: The Best and Worst countries to be a
mother
Source: Save the Children - Australia
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A Mother’s Day Report Card: The Best – And
Worst – Countries to Be a Mother
Expanded Index Now Includes 18 Additional Industrialised Countries
Sweden tops list, Niger ranks last,
Australia ranked 5th, up from
7th last year
Save the Children, the world’s largest independent child rights organisation, has released its eighth annual Mothers’ Index that ranks the best – and worst
– places to be a mother and a child, and compares the well-being of mothers and children in 140 countries.Sweden, Iceland and Norway top the rankings this year. Niger ranks last among
countries surveyed. The top-10 countries, in general, attain very high scores for mothers’ and children’s health, educational and economic status. The 10 bottom-ranked countries –
nine from sub-Saharan Africa – are a reverse image of the top 10, performing poorly on all indicators. Australia is placed 5th, one behind New Zealand in 4th position.Conditions
for mothers and their children in countries at the bottom of the Index are grim. On average, 1 in 13 mothers will die in her lifetime from pregnancy-related causes. Nearly 1 in 5 children do not reach
their fifth birthday, and more than 1 in 3 children suffer from malnutrition. About 50 percent of the population lacks access to safe water, and only 3 girls for every 4 boys are enrolled in primary
school.“If 75 years of field experience has taught us anything, it is that the quality of children’s lives depends on the health, security and well-being of their mothers,”
said Margaret Douglas, Chief Executive of Save the Children Australia. “By providing mothers access to education, economic opportunities, and maternal and child health care, we ensure that
mothers and their children will have the best chance to survive and thrive,” she said. Read more here
Download the full media release here [Adobe PDF, 129 Kb]- Read more about the 2007 Mothers' Index here
- Read more about the 2007 State of the World's Mothers report here
- Download a copy of the report here [Adobe PDF, 2147 Kb]
For more information please contact:
Sharyn Hanly: +61 3 9938 2011 or Mob: 0418 560 810Contact Save the Children Australia Media Centre: +61 3 9938 2000
Email address: media@savethechildren.org.au
Read other media releases
here
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