Finland had been ranked as the world's best country for women for two consecutive years by the non-governmental organisation before being overtaken by Norway in the wake of its successful efforts to reduce pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths.

Norway has overtaken Finland in a study conducted by Save the Children that documented the conditions for mothers and children in a total of 179 countries.

The non-governmental organisation ranked the countries according to their performance across five indicators: the risk of women dying during pregnancy or childbirth, the mortality rate for children under five years of age, education level, economic well-being and the participation of women in parliamentary decision-making.

The study named Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden as the five best countries in the world for mothers. Elsewhere, the United Kingdom came in at 24th, Estonia at 27th, the United States at 33rd, Russia at 56th and China at 61st place.

The conditions for mothers and children are the worst in Somalia, according to Save the Children. In fact, the ten worst places in the world for mothers and children are all located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The 16th edition of State of the World's Mothers calls particular attention to cities where the health gap between rich and poor is exceptionally wide. In Vietnam, Peru and Cambodia, for example, children born to low-income households are five times as likely to die than their peers in better-off households.

Such differences can also be observed in industrial countries and are pronounced in some cities in the United States than in many developing countries. Women are more likely to die to pregnancy-related complications in the United States than in any other developed country.

Maria Pettersson – HS

Aleksi Teivainen – HT

© HELSINGIN SANOMAT