20 Best Countries for Mothers According to 2014 State of the World’s Mothers Report #SOWM

In celebration of Mother’s Day this coming Sunday, we’re going to explore the state of mother’s in the world based on a report released by Save the Children. We’ve featured how Canada compares on the world’s stage in posts like best country to live, smartest countries, the happiest countries, the  most peaceful countries, the friendliest countries, the most charitable countries, the best countries for quality of life, the best countries for business, the top countries for life expectancy, the best country for child well-being, the best countries for higher education, the most popular countries, the least corrupt countries, the countries with the best reputation, the best countries for ease of doing business, the best countries for starting a business, the best country for business, the best country for customer satisfaction, the most gay positive country, the best countries with the most competitive economies, the best countries for entrepreneurship, the most sustainable countries, the best countries to grow old, the best country brand, the best countries for business, the most sustainable countries, the most charitable countries, the most prosperous countries, the countries with the highest minimum wage, the safest countries, the best countries with the highest average salary, the best countries for social progress and the best countries for working women. Today we’ll be looking at the 20 best countries for mothers from Save the Children’s 15th annual State of the World’s Mothers (SOWM) report published with generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Johnson & Johnson.

“Each day, an estimated 800 mothers and 18,000 young children die from largely preventable causes.”

The report is used to highlight that “more than 60 million women and children are in need of humanitarian assistance this year. Over half of maternal and child deaths worldwide occur in crisis-affected places.” Since the Mothers’ Index was created in 2000 it “has become a reliable international tool to show where mothers and children fare best, and where they face the greatest hardships, using the latest data on health, education, economics and female political participation.”

“Mothers and children face the highest risks of death, and steepest roads to recovery, in crisis situations that occur in fragile settings.”

Save the Children uses data from international agencies – all data used was published as recently as March 13, 2014. They then use 5 main indicators to create the ranking for the index including: lifetime risk of maternal death, under-5 mortality rate, expected number of years of formal schooling, gross national income (GNI) per capita and participation of women in national government. Using this formula they ranked some 178 countries. According to this research, the 20 best countries for mothers are:

• 1. Finland
• 2. Norway
• 3. Sweden
• 4. Iceland
• 5. Netherlands
• 6. Denmark
• 7. Spain
• 8. Germany
• 9. Australia
• 9. Belgium
• 11. Italy
• 12. Austria
• 13. Switzerland
• 14. Portugal
• 15. Singapore
• 16. New Zealand
• 17. Slovenia
• 18. Canada
• 19. Ireland
• 20. France
• 20. Greece

It should be noted that Canada was the only North American country in the top 20; as the United States ranked 31st and Mexico came in 54th.

“Of the more than 80 million people projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2014, the majority are deeply impoverished and over three-quarters are women and children.”

Save The Children believes “all mothers and children deserve to be healthy and safe no matter where they live.” It is a belief that many agree with and they ask you to share this information over social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest using the hashtag #SOWM to foster an open dialogue and spread awareness about the state of the world’s mothers.

Though Mother’s Day helps put this problem into context for many, hopefully the dialogue will continue long after.

___________________________________________________________________________________

For nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Pinterest or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions  and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.