Where is the best place in the world to be a MOTHER?

Norway! Norway topped the 2011 Mother’s Index that is put together by Save the Children NGO. Norway has the highest ratio of female-to-male earned income, one of the lowest under-5 mortality rates and one of the most generous maternity leave policies in the developed world. Sitting at the bottom of the rankings is, not surprisingly, Afghanistan. The differences between the two countries are stark. A Norwegian woman on average has 18 years of formal education and can expect to live to be 83 years old. An Afghani woman will typically have fewer than 5 years of schooling, will live only to be 45, and has a 1 in 5 chance of losing a child before his/her fifth birthday.

The U.S. ranked 31st out of 164 countries. To me, it is disturbing that the country with the largest GDP in the world ranks so low in providing for the well-being of mothers. The rate for maternal mortality in the U.S. is the highest of any industrialized nation. In addition, the U.S. only allows about 12 weeks of maternity leave, while several developed countries provide a year or more of maternity leave.

Another interesting note is that many developing countries rank higher than developed countries for the ratio of estimated female to male earned income for equal work. In no country do women earn more than men for the same work; however, in Mozambique and Mongolia women earn almost 90 percent of a man’s salary. In China women earn 68 percent, in the United Kingdom they earn 67 percent, and in the US, ranking 56th, women earn only 62 percent of a man’s salary. Women earn the least in West Bank/Gaza and Saudi Arabia, earning only 12 and 16 percent of a man’s earnings respectively.

For more stats see: State of the World's Mothers 2011

Give your mother some love this Sunday for Mothers Day and always!