Finland Times

 

File Photo Lehtikuva.

Finland was ranked the second best place in the world to be a mother, according to an independent research.

     

International non-government organization Save the Children made the ranking in its annual report -- State of the World's Mothers 2015 published on Monday.

 

Save the Children’s 16th annual Mothers’ Index assesses the wellbeing of mothers and children in 179 countries where Finland which dropped to second place from the top position in 2014 and 2013.

 

This year Norway secured top position in the index followed by Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden.

 

“The top 10 countries, in general, attain very high scores for mothers’ and children’s health, educational, economic and political status,” said the report.

 

Nordic countries dominated the top positions on the index while countries in sub-Saharan Africa filled the lowest ranks.

 

The United States ranked 33rd while Somalia scored last among the countries surveyed. 

 

The 11 bottom-ranked countries – all but two of them from West and Central Africa – are a reverse image of the top 10, performing poorly on all indicators. 

 

Conditions for mothers and their children in the bottom countries are grim. On average, 1 woman in 30 dies from pregnancy-related causes and 1 child in 8 dies before his or her fifth birthday. 

 

The data collected for the Mothers’ Index document the tremendous gaps between rich and poor countries and the urgent need to accelerate progress in the health and well-being of mothers and their children. 

 

The data also highlight the role that armed conflict and poor governance play in these tragedies. Nine of the bottom 11 countries are conflict-affected or otherwise considered to be fragile states, which means they are failing in fundamental ways to perform functions necessary to meet their citizens’ basic needs. 

 

In commemoration of Mother’s Day, Save the Children published its 16th annual State of the World’s Mothers report with a special focus on our rapidly urbanizing world and the poorest mothers and children who must struggle to survive despite overall urban progress. 

 

Every day, 17,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday. Increasingly, these preventable deaths are occurring in city slums, where overcrowding and poor sanitation exist alongside skyscrapers and shopping malls. Lifesaving health care may be only a stone’s throw away, but the poorest mothers and children often cannot get the care they need, said the report.