Belarus is listed among the top countries for motherhood

According to the 14th State of the World’s Mothers report currently released by Save the Children, Belarus and Lithuania share the 26th place among the countries best suitable for motherhood.

This year’s report looks at the critical first day of life, when mothers and their newborns face the greatest threats to survival, and when there is tremendous opportunity to save lives. Every year, about 1 million babies die the day they are born.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the toughest place in the world to be a mother – and Finland the best – according to Save the Children’s State of the World’s Mothers report. The Nordic countries sweep the top spots while, for the first time, countries in sub-Saharan Africa take up each of the bottom ten places in the annual list.

The Mothers’ Index, in the State of the World’s Mothers report, is a unique ranking of 176 countries around the globe, showing those that are succeeding – and those failing – in their support to mothers.  It assesses mothers’ well-being using indicators of maternal health, child mortality, education and levels of women’s income and political status.

The Birth Day Risk Index, also contained in the report, compares first-day death rates for babies in 186 countries.  One million babies die each year on the day they enter the world, – or two every minute – making the first day by far the riskiest day of a person’s life in almost every country in the world. This is despite the low-cost interventions that are available to tackle the high rate of baby deaths on the first day of life.

Save the Children International’s Chief Executive, Jasmine Whitbread, said: “By investing in mothers and children, nations are investing in their future prosperity. If women are educated, are represented politically, and have access to good quality maternal and child care, then they and their children are much more likely to survive and thrive – and so are the societies they live in.  Huge progress has been made across the developing world, but much more can be done to save and improve millions of the poorest mothers and newborns’ lives.” 

You can download the full report here.