Best & Worst places to be a mother: Iran's ranking in the world?
Just in time for Mother’s Day, the 2012 annual State of the World’s Mothers Report from the "Save the Children" foundation is out. Where does Iran stand in this year's report? Is Iran a good or a bad place to be a mother?
The annual report (link) rates the well-being of mothers and children in 165 countries based on a variety of factors like mother’s education, infant mortality rate, breast-feeding prevalence and election of women to government office.
At the top of the list is Norway, followed by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Belgium and Ireland. These are countries with generous maternity-leave policies, and women who are highly educated and well represented in government. Norway boasts the highest female-to-male income ratio and is tied for the second-lowest under-5 mortality rate among developed countries.
Iran is placed on the Tier II list of less developed countries, with an overall rank in motherhood index of 93 (out of 165 countries) compared to 81 in last year's report. In Iran women's earned income is about 32% of men's (Saudi Arabia is 16%, Austria is 40%, Japan is 45%, U.S. is 62%, Israel is 64%, Norway is 77%), and only 3% of government seats and power is shared by women (Saudi Arabia and Qatar are 0%, India is 11% and South Africa is 43%). But Iranian women are highly educated (Average 15 school years for educated women). Among other Tier II less developed countries, Cuba's overall ranking is 44, Israel 45, China 57, Bahrain 69, Turkey 90, and Saudi Arabia 106.
In the list of developed and industialized countries, the U.S. moved up six spots in the ranking to 25th place from 31st last year. But America falls behind other developed countries on many measures. For instance, the U.S. has the highest maternal death rate of any industrialized nation, with a 1 in 2,100 risk of dying in childbirth; women in the U.S. are seven times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than a woman in Ireland or Italy. Infant mortality rates in the U.S. aren’t much better. The under-5 mortality rate in the U.S. is 8 per 1,000 births, which puts it behind 40 other countries. The report also notes that the U.S. has one of the least generous maternity leave policies of any wealthy nation. It is the only developed country — and one of only a handful of countries worldwide — that does not guarantee paid leave for working moms. Instead, by law, new mothers get 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Compare that to Norway, where, mothers can take up to 36 weeks off work with 100 percent of their pay.
The worst places in the world to be a mother are Niger, Afghanistan and Yemen. Sadly, the new report states that over half the world’s children do not have access to the lifesaving basics: Iron folate supplementation during pregnancy, Breastfeeding, Complementary feeding, Vitamin A supplementation, Zinc for treatment of diarrhea, and Water, sanitation, and hygiene. Some of these require small investments. For example, At 2 cents a tablet, a full lifesaving course of zinc treatment for diarrhea costs less than 30 cents. It is estimated that 4 percent of child deaths could be prevented if all young children with diarrhea were treated with zinc. With proper attention to breastfeeding and small investments in supplements, even underdeveloped countries like Malawi, Madagascar, Peru and the Solomon Islands have become regional leaders in terms of child survival. Kuwait, U.S. and Venezuela are among countries which underperform relative to their GDP, and Jamaica, Ukraine, Chile and China are among countries which overperform relative to their GDP.
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