Britain scrapes into top 25 countries in the world to be a mother in Save the Children report

Save the Children’s 16th annual State of the World’s Mothers report found that women in the UK face a one in 6,900 lifetime risk of maternal death

A report has found that women in the UK face a one in 6,900 lifetime risk of maternal death, meaning Britain only just makes it into the list of the top 25 countries in the world to be a mother (PA Wire)

Women in Britain are more than twice as likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth as those in Poland, Austria or Belarus, a report published has revealed.

Save the Children’s 16th annual State of the World’s Mothers report found that women in the UK face a one in 6,900 lifetime risk of maternal death. This was far greater than Poland (19,800), Austria (19,200) and Belarus (45,200). In the US the figure was a one in 1,800 lifetime risk of maternal death – the worst performance of any developed country in the world.

The UK only just made it into the list of the top 25 countries in the world to be a mother, coming in at 24th place in the charity’s 2015 Mothers’ Index.

“The ranking shows that the UK is underperforming as one of the wealthiest countries in the world,” Kathryn Bolles, director of health and nutrition for Save the Children, told i.

“The real indicator that brought the UK down is the representation of women in politics and government, which we know is strongly linked to maternal wellbeing.”

The UK ranked 63rd on this particular indicator, with 23 per cent of the parliamentary seats held by women, the report found.

“Female representation in government makes a difference – it indicates how well that country is doing in terms of women’s and children’s survival,” Ms Bolles said. “Women in positions of power making decisions around how resources are allocated translates to improving circumstances for women and children. They will prioritise different things and focus more on education and health care.”

This year’s position is a slight improvement on 2014, however, when the UK was 26th in the rankings. Meanwhile, the United States languished even further behind in 33rd place, while Somalia was placed last for the second year running with all but two of the 11 bottom-ranked countries in the world in West and Central Africa.

Researchers compiled the index of 179 countries by using data from UN agencies to show where mothers and children fare best and where they face the greatest hardships.

High-risk pregnancies in the UK are thought to be linked to obesity, IVF, social deprivation and multiple pregnancies as well as increased maternal age and poorer access to health care, especially in some ethnic minority communities.

Researchers also calculated that a child born in the UK is more than twice as likely to die before the age of five as it is in Iceland or Luxembourg, with the UK having a child mortality rate of 4.6 per 1,000 births, and the other two countries being 2.1 and two respectively.

These are the countries that topped this year’s Mothers’ Index:

1 Norway

2 Finland

3 Iceland

4 Denmark

5 Sweden

6 Netherlands

7 Spain

8 Germany

9 Australia

10 Belgium

11 Austria

12 Italy

13 Switzerland

14 Singapore

15 Slovenia

16 Portugal

17 New Zealand

18 Israel

19 Greece

20 Canada

21 Luxembourg

22 Ireland

23 France

24 United Kingdom

= 25 Belarus

= 25 Czech Republic

Nurturing nations 2015 Mothers’ Index rankings