As every year, Save The Children has announced the State of the World's Mothers 2011, a report prepared from the analysis of 164 countries in the world, which places Spain in the twelfth best country to be a mother.
Factors related to the educational, health, economic and political status of mothers as well as the basic well-being of their children are taken into account. Based on these data, a ranking of the best and worst countries in the world to be a mother is developed.
Spain, in the twelfth place, has risen a position in the ranking compared to last year. For its part, Norway, like last year is the best country to be a mother, followed by Australia and Iceland, while Afghanistan, Nigeria and Guinea, located in the last positions of the ranking are the worst countries to have children.
The ten best and the ten worst countries to be a mother
If you look at the list, eight of the ten best countries are in Europe, while eight of the ten worst countries to be a mother are in Sub-Saharan Africa. For its part, if we focus on the well-being of children, Sweden is placed first.
If we compare the data between the best and the worst country to be a mother, in Norway 1 out of every 333 children dies before age five and women, with a life expectancy of 83 years, usually finish 18 years of schooling, while In Afghanistan, two out of five children suffer from malnutrition and one in five dies before the age of five and women have an average of less than five years of schooling and their life expectancy is 45 years.
The situation of Spain
This year it has risen one position with respect to last year, but it should be noted that in 2006 and 2007 it was placed in ninth place, descending in 2008 to the twelfth position, in 2009 occupying the eleventh and last year descending to thirteen.
In 2011, he won a position at the twelfth place again. However, there are many issues in which Spain still does not approve.
First, a good country to be a mother must have effective reconciliation policies. The maternity leave of 16 weeks is well below the maternity leave enjoyed in other European countries, such as 480 days in Sweden or without going to such extremes, 52 weeks in the United Kingdom or 20 weeks in Italy.
The disappointing thing is that it does not seem that the situation was going to change in Spain in that sense, since it has been requested to extend the maternity leave to six months but at the moment the response has been negative.
The salary differences between men and women is also a point to improve, as well as the scarce financial aid received by the birth of a child, being Spain the European country that gives less aid.
All this also influences that women decide to be mothers at increasingly advanced ages, with the consequent risk of premature births and medical complications for them and their babies.
Still, mothers in Spain can say that we are in a sweet situation if we compare it with that of the mothers who live in the countries that are at the bottom of the list, but without a doubt there are many things that could be changed to improve the welfare of mothers and their children.
