Where’s the Best Place to Be a Mom? Norway!
Photo: Thinkstock / The Bump
Save the Children published their 13th annual State of the World’s Mothers report today and there are some surprising results. In the Best and Worst Places to Be a Mom ranking, the U.S. came in at 25th place compared to 165 other countries. Norway was in first place and Niger was in last place – replacing Afghanistan for the first time in two years. The rankings look at factors like mother’s health, education and economic status, plus child’s health and nutrition.
Some differences between Niger and Norway include: 100% of births are supervised by medical professionals in Norway, compared to one-third in Niger; a child’s risk of death is 1 in 333 in Norway, compared to 1 in 7 in Niger; and the maternal death risk is 1 in 7,6000 in Norway, compared to 1 in 16 women in Niger.
So why didn’t the U.S. have a higher ranking? “While the US has moved up in the rankings, ahead of last year’s 31st place, we still fall below most wealthy nations,” said Carolyn Miles, President & CEO of Save the Children. “A woman in the US is more than 7 times as likely to die of a pregnancy-related cause in her lifetime than a woman in Italy or Ireland. When it comes to the number of children enrolled in preschools or the political status of women, the United States also places in the bottom 10 countries of the developed world.” Moms in the U.S. have a 1 in 2,100 risk of dying from something pregnancy-related, which was the highest among of any industrialized nation. Plus, the mortality rate of children for the U.S. ranks 41st. Also, the U.S. maternity leave policies are the poorest of any wealthy nation because there isn’t guaranteed paid leave for every working mother.
Nutrition is one of the major factors that decide the rankings – of the 10 countries at the bottom of the list, seven are in food crises right now. The report showed that educating mothers and encouraging them to breastfeed could save one million children a year – only 40 percent of infants in developing countries benefit from exclusive breastfeeding.
Save the Children is focusing on asking world leaders to take global action for malnutrition, especially since the G8 Summit is taking place in two weeks.
Surprised by the stats? Do you think where you live is a great place to be a mom?
Plus, more from The Bump:
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The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
No, I’m not surprised at all. It is all a matter of political priorties and unfortunately children can’t vote. So we in the US ignore our children, from conception through college, but expect everyone to live the “dream.” Take a look at Norway’s status on the “socialization of government” to understand how important they think their tax dollars are for increasing everyone’s health and education (along with old age pensions). Thanks for posting this! Barb
Hear, hear! I agree with you 100% Well said.
Not surprised at all. Here in the good ole USA we have no concept at all of taking care of our own or supporting families. It’s a me me me society and to heck with loving anyone else. Don’t make sure everyone has health care or enough to eat. Oh no no no that would mean giving the less fortunate enough to ensure they’re cared for. And everyone in the US knows the poor are just a bunch of drug addicted lazy welfare brats who get rich off the system. We need to make sure we continue cutting back their help while making it harder to get in the process. Afterall we have an over abundance of jobs they can all go get right? And none of the me me me atitude in this country hurts the children at all. *Note the sarcasm in the previous few sentences*
There is so much wrong in the USA. We have no hope of improving things for mothers or children until some major changes are made to how things are done along with the general atitude of society.
I’m from the USA but I live in Germany and I can say this is absolutely accurate. When it comes to ANYTHING in the States, Money is the first priority. how can we do this the cheapest way…..health care, nutrition, family well being. They don’t CARE about the people!!! In Germany and pretty much all of Western Europe, the benefit of the people and the prevention of poor health come first before anything! I met an African guy here in Munich and he was just here on vacation. He ended getting in an accident and needed a couple major operations. He didn’t have any insurance to cover him in Germany, so his operations were complimentary. He walked out of the hospital after months of staying there without having to pay a dime. I had a baby 9 months ago and I am still on maternity leave and it’s paid! You can take up to 3 years maternity leave and then the child starts kindergarten at 3. The reason they give is that families should not have to have someone else take care of their child simply because they can’t afford it otherwise and a child that has it’s parents around the first crucial years grows up to be a better person. As for Nutrition….. They don’t allow anything in the food that could be harmful to anyone. No GMOs, no harmful preservatives or pesticides, etc. they feel that health is more important than all else. And preventative care ends up being cheaper than trying to fix people after the fact. With births, there are waaaaaay less c- sections. Only if absolutely necessary because they increase the chance of mortality. Ok, I’ll stop rambling now. I just wish the USA would get there act together!
As a natural born Biracial young American who is a single mother on welfare to two small children I know first hand the tragedy of living in modern day America. This article sugar coats it a bit! I am saddened to live in a country that clearly could care less about the people in it, especially the young, the old and the poor! I struggle everyday trying to “make it” in this country and honestly if I could get a one way ticket out I would!!! Unfortunately the “American Dream” is GONE!!! The government makes it so hard to get a little help if you have small children and then you have to worry about how you will feed, cloth and care for you child in a country that has NO JOBS LEFT! Then you have the almost impossible task of finding quality affordable child care for your children and accept the fact that your child will practically be raised by some one else. Child support is a joke in this country. It takes two people to make a baby yet it is left up to the woman to care for the child forever. When the non custodial parent abandons their child and refuses to pay, they barely get a slap on their wrist. It’s really pathetic. How do you expect a child to be raised in a stress free environment when the mother is so poor that she has NOTHING!!! Then it takes almost a year to get the “ball rolling” so to speak. Why are ” biological fathers” allowed to do this in our country? It’s absolutely an abomination to our children and our mothers!!! We as Americans have to stand up and say enough is ENOUGH!!!!