Finland Best Place to be a Mother, US Ranks 30th

Save the Children, a non-government organisation working for child rights, has released top 30 countries in the world to be a mother in their 14^th annual Mothers' Index that is a part of the 2013 State of the World's Mother report.

The NGO surveyed 176 countries for the report. They were studied on the basis of maternal health, well-being of children, economic , education  and political status. European countries topped the chart along with Australia and the sub-Saharan African countries were at the bottom of the list.

The U.S. was ranked 30^th. It was preceded by Western European countries such as Poland and Israel. The U.S. was ranked way below Singapore. Finland was ranked 1^st in the list of favorable countries to be a mother. The country passed in all the merits.

Finland showed a number of qualities to be an ideal country for mothers. The lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 12,200 and 1 in 333 children do not live beyond their 5^th birthday. The average income of a person is $47,770 in the country. Children are required to go through 17 years of formal schooling and in the national government women hold 42.5 percent of the seats.

Grabbing second spot was Sweden. Around 45 percent of the seats in the country's national government are held by women. Norway follows Sweden and is ranked third best country to be a mother. The country has excellent per capita income with an average if $88,890.

Iceland settles on number 4 on the list. Only one in 400 children do not survive beyond their 5^th birthday.

And at number 5 was the Netherlands. The lifetime risk of maternal death in the country is 1 in 10, 500.