Where's the best country to be a mom?

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(CBS News) If you're going to be a new mother, you might want to move to Norway. According to a new study, Norwegian moms have it best.

Save the Children released their 13th annual State of the World's Mothers report on Tuesday. The study takes a look at several factors including maternal health, education and economic status, as well as the health and nutrition of their children.

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The U.S. is only number 25 on the list - far behind Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. The life expectancy of a woman in the United States is 81 years and expected years of education is high at 18 years. But , there is a relatively high risk of maternal death in America with a rate of 1 out of 2,100, especially when compared to Japan (1 in 12,200) or Ireland (1 out of 17,800). The rate is the worst out of any industrialized nation.

American mothers only get 12 weeks of maternity leave - the lowest amount of time out of all the Tier I countries that were analyzed - and have no national program to help pay their wages during that time unlike the countries that top the list. Australians and Canadians get a full year off. Women in the U.S. also hold fewer positions in politics than in other industrialized nations, and many children forgo preschool.

The worst country to be a mother was Niger. Women get just 4 years of education on average, are likely to lose a child at some point during their lives and have a life expectancy of only 56 years. Previously, Afghanistan was at the bottom of the list, but improvements have been made in the country, including raising the school enrollment rate from 20 to 97 percent from 2000 to today.

Among the findings, the aid organization said that many children are not getting adequate nutrition in their first 1,000 days. In fact, out of 73 developing countries - which account for 95 percent of child deaths - only four scored "very good" on their young child nutrition scale. They are urging all nations to help ensure every child gets the food they need to grow.

"Stunting, or stunted growth, occurs when children do not receive the right type of nutrients, especially in utero or during the first two years of life," the organization wrote. "Children whose bodies and minds are limited by stunting are at greater risk for disease and death, poor performance in school, and a lifetime of poverty."

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[FemaleFarmer]

Leave it to Americans to always point the finger for all their problems when they need only look into a mirror.Americans are stupid blind by their own stupidity and greed. Material possession and military power has made them into a tyrant State which on the film V For Vendetta shows. I say cheers for the Scandinavian countries and Japan. They grow, men and women, not ******* and dogs. And if the FBI or the American government finds my statement within treason, then that just shows how much they want to brainwash humans into mindless ignorant lab rats.

[daffy64]

The U.S. is only number 25 on the list - far behind Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.

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Yeah, but we gots more tanks!!!!! USA!!! USA!!!! USA!!!!!

[vernique3]

What about the Rebublican propaganda that America has the best medical system in the world. We can be proud that America ranks 1ST in amount paid per person for medical procedures for 24th ranked care.

[messidonnni]

Very soon they will start blaming illegal immigrants and gay marriage as the cause of the problem, sit and wait.

[lillyhorton]

We can all thank God for all US problems.

[messidonnni]

yeah, I imagine that the UK, Canadians, Australians, all of them have 3 churches per square block like it is in the US........ they are all socialist countries, the irony of it all.

[baileycccc]

Big Pharma is poisoning everyone for profit. I am surprise the US was as high as 25th on the list.

[gadfly65]

We're that high on the list? The Republicans have work to do!

[Dreadnut]

If you got rid of the demographic that votes Democratic in the US, we too would be a blond haired/blue eyed/high income paradise.

[KPeters_from_UK]

Whoa, what veiled racist statement was that? Obviously you haven't been to a Nordic country. They too have immigration. And they have higher tax rates which they readily except.

[erasmus111]

"...there is a relatively high risk of maternal death in America with a rate of 1 out of 2,100..."

"The rate is the worst out of any industrialized nation."

"American mothers only get 12 weeks of maternity leave"

"...and have no national program to help pay their wages during that time"

"...and many children forgo preschool."


I've always said that the U.S. is living in the Dark Ages with major racism, no health care, and everyone running around shooting each other, so why I'm surprised by this, I have no idea.

[lillyhorton]

I only got 6 weeks of maturnity leave in 1990 and my EX pressed me to go back after 2 weeks because of financial issues. Daycare facilities do not take infants under 6 weeks thank goodness.

[notyrants]

..and Norway's oil reserves serve the common good, not private oligarchs who hide behind the flag and the constitution but stand for the fundamentals that the american revolution stood in revolt to.