South Korea ranks 32nd on a list of the best places to be a mother, according to a report by an international children rights group.

In the State of the World’s Mothers report by Save the Children, South Korea ranked just below Japan and the United States on the list of 176 countries.

Finland took the top slot, followed by northern European nations including Sweden, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was named as the world’s toughest place to be a mother.

The Mother’s Index rankings were determined by five indicators on education, income, women’s political status and the chances a mother and her baby will survive.

According to the statistics, 1 in 4,800 mothers in Korea die during pregnancy or childbirth. Korean women are educated for an average 17.2 years, and the portion of female lawmakers is 15.7 percent.

Six in 1,000 babies die the day they are born in North Korea compared with 1 in 1,000 in South Korea, the U.K., France and Japan.

“Research shows the importance of investing in mothers and children,“ said Patricia Erb, president and CEO of Save the Children.

“The prosperity and stability of a country improves as women are better educated, have better personal incomes and are politically represented,” Erb said.

“When women do better their children are healthier and do better in school. It starts a virtuous cycle of development. We have made great progress around the world but much more can be done to save and improve millions of the poorest mothers’ and newborns’ lives.”

From news report
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)