Norway Boasts of Best Mothers Ends Up First in State of the World’s Mothers report for 2015
A loving, dedicated and hardworking mother is one of the most precious treasures one could ever have. She served as the pillars and cornerstones of every home and she is the one that you owe your very life. She plays many roles in real life to keep the family healthy, happy and intact. Her love will indeed forever etched in your mind and heart.
When it comes to best mothers on earth, however, the Norwegians are nestled on top of the heave according to Save the Children’s 179-country State of the World’s Mothers report for 2015.
Norway’s three fellow Nordic countries also made it into the top 5. The 16th edition of the ranking saw Finland checking in at second place, Denmark taking the fourth spot and Sweden snatching the fifth position.
Last year Finland copped the first place and exchanged position with Norway this year. Iceland and Denmark improved two notches up while Sweden dipped two places down.
The countries were ranked using all five indicators of maternal and child health and wellbeing such as maternal health, children’s well-being, education status, economic status, and political status.
Norway scored well on all of the five dimensions to cop the much-coveted first place. The report stated that, “Norway performs the absolute ‘best’ on economic status and is the only country to place in the top 12 on all five indicators. It is consistently high performance that puts Norway on top.”
Norway which boasts of a robust 90,000 per capita is currently the wealthiest country in the planet. “Girl Power” is also prevalent in the Scandinavian country as women occupied 40% of the parliamentary seats.
The maternal death in Norway occurs rarely and the lifetime probability of dying in pregnancy or childbirth is just at around 1 in 15,000 which is indeed startling.
The figures will also indicate that measly 0.3% of children will not reach their fifth birthday, which is equivalent to 1 in 188 women would have to endure the loss of a young child. Norwegian moms also value education a lot Norway as child stays in school here for an average of 17.5 years.
Other countries that occupied the top 6 to 10 positions of the 2015’s Mothers’ Index, in descending order, are Netherlands (6th, 1 rung down), Spain (7th, no change), Germany (8th, no change), Australia (9th, no change), and Belgium (10th, 1 rung down from tied 9th in 2014).
List of notable countries with their respective rank includes the United States (33rd), the United Kingdom (24th), Italy (12th), Switzerland (13th), Russian Federation (56th), Japan (32nd), France (23rd), New Zealand (17th), China (61st), Argentina (36th), Brazil (77th), India (140th), South Africa (72nd), Singapore (14th) and the Philippines (105th).
This year’s report is the largest in terms of covered countries.
The report stated that, “The top 10 countries, in general, attain very high scores for mothers’ and children’s health, educational, economic, and political status,”it is stated.
Now here is the other side of the coin as Save the Children’s 2015 State of the World’s Mothers report reveals the bottom 10 countries, in descending and these are Haiti, Sierra Leone (tied 169th), Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Niger, Mali, Central African Republic, DR Congo, and Somalia.
Around 74% of Somalia living in urban areas thrives in slums and the child mortality rates have a propensity to be high. One in 18 Somali women would likely “to eventually die of a maternal cause,” says Save the Children.
Close 15% of Somali children would not reach their fifth birthday and 9 in 10 Somali mothers would probably lose a child below the age of five.
In addition, Somali children are likely to receive below 2.5 years of formal education because of poverty, while only 14% of Somali women hold seats in parliament.
Save the Children concluded, “It should be noted that not all Somali children are equally bad off. National averages mask large sub-national disparities. Recent survey data* suggest some northern areas have under-5 mortality rates that are less than half the national average.”
*UNICEF Somalia and Somaliland Ministry of Planning and National Development. Somaliland Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2011, Final Report. (Nairobi, Kenya: 2014).
The read the full State of the World’s Mothers report for 2015 feel free to click here.
Source: Michael Sandelson