In its 13th anniversary, the Report on the World of Mothers of Save the Children. Niger considered as the worst place to be a mother, moving to Afghanistan this sad ranking.

Spain, meanwhile, is ranked 16 out of 165 countries surveyed around the world, four places lower compared to last year, behind France and Portugal over Estonia and Switzerland.

The rankings are based on factors such as maternal health, education and economic status, their children's health and nutrition.

The study included 43 developed countries and 122 developing countries.

As expected developed countries were among the best, with European countries plus Australia and New Zealand, dominating the top spots. Saharan African countries headed lower levels of classification.

The 10 best places to be a mother (in descending order):

    
Norway
    
Iceland
    
Sweden
    
New Zealand
    
Denmark
    
Finland
    
Australia
    
Belgium
    
Ireland
    
Netherlands / United Kingdom

The worst places to be a mother (in order from the worst):

    
Niger
    
Afghanistan
    
Yemen
    
Guinea-Bissau
    
Mali
    
Eritrea
    
Chad
    
Sudan
    
South Sudan
    
Democratic Republic of Congo

To get an idea of ​​what life is like a mother in different countries, the report's authors compare the best (Norway) with the worst (Niger): While health are well qualified in almost all births in Norway, this only occurs in 1 in 3 births in Niger. In Norway, about 40 percent of parliamentary seats held by women in Niger, only 13 percent.

A typical Norwegian child will receive 18 years of formal education and live to 83 years, a typical Nigerian girl receives only four years of education and life expectancy is only 56 years.

Eighty-two percent of Norwegian women using modern contraceptive methods, compared with 5 percent of Niger. In Norway, one of every 175 mothers at risk of losing a child before the age of five years in Niger, the rate is one in seven.

Even Spain shows differences in the maternity countries with better coefficient.

Spain has a high life expectancy of 85 years, similar to that of France or Switzerland, and second only to Japan and a mortality rate of children under five years of 5 per 1,000.

Our country is still below other European countries in terms of duration of maternity leave with 16 weeks, less than countries like Britain and Denmark, who enjoy 52 weeks.

Food, or its scarcity, it seems key to the countries that descend on the list. Seven of the 10 worst countries to be a mother in crisis are food, the researchers said, and chronic malnutrition causes stunting.

The growth retardation can start a vicious cycle: A young malnourished mother will give birth to a baby with low weight due to lack food in the womb, according to Save the Children. Up to 20 percent of women in sub-Saharan Africa are too thin, a figure that rises to 35 percent in South Asia.

The best way to break this cycle, the authors say, is to focus on pregnant women and their children and continue this approach until the second year of the child.