Israel ranks 45 in list of best places in the world to be a mother
Child health watchdog group notes that men earn 56% more than women in the Jewish state
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
A report on the quality of life for mothers around the world put Israel in 45th place out of 165 countries.
The 13th Save the Children annual report, released on Tuesday, lists countries based on a range of UN and World Health Organization parameters such as life expectancy, maternity deaths, education, earnings, and maternity leave benefits.
The best country in the world overall to give birth and raise children in is Norway, followed by Iceland and Switzerland. The United States ranked 25th and the United Kingdom came in 10th.
The worst country in the world to be a mother is Niger, with conditions in Afghanistan considered only slightly better. Whereas the life expectancy of a mother in Israel is 84 years, in Afghanistan it is just 49. In Niger, women live an average of 56 years.
Figures show that maternal death — death during pregnancy or shortly thereafter — strikes one in every 5,100 women in Israel compared to one in 2,100 in the United States. However, in Afghanistan one in every 11 expecting mothers dies during pregnancy.
In the workplace Israeli men earn on average 56% more than women while a few kilometers away and over the border in Jordan, male wages are 500% higher than their female counterparts.
Israel is placed in the Less Developed tier, the middle of the three-part UN tier system of More Developed, Less Developed, and Least Developed countries. Inside this tier, Israel ranked second, just behind Cuba and ahead of Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa.
Save the Children is an independent organization that works to improve the lives of children in need in the United States and around the world.
The Times of Israel Community.