1 Million Babies Die the Day They're Born, Save the Children Says Tanya Weinberg - Save the Children
go to original May 8, 2013

A report from Save the Children reveals the best and worst places to give birth. Sarah Sheffer reports. (Reuters)

A baby's birth day is the most dangerous day of life - in the United States and almost every country in the world - according Save the Children's State of the World's Mothers report, released this week.

More than 1 million babies die the day they are born yearly, according to the first global analysis of newborn day-of-death data.

In addition to new findings on newborn survival, the report also features Save the Children's Mothers' Index, released annually in the run-up to Mother's Day. This year it ranks Finland as the best place in the world to be a mother, and Democratic Republic of the Congo as the toughest.

The United States ranks as the 30th best place to be a mother, just above Japan and South Korea - but below all of Western Europe, Australia, Slovenia, Singapore, New Zealand, Estonia, Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. The Mothers' Index rankings are determined by five indicators on education, income, women's political representation and the chances a mother and her baby will survive.

Surviving the First Day

The 2013 State of the World's Mothers report focuses in on newborn health and the theme "Surviving the First Day." A new Birth Day Risk Index ranks 186 countries by the chances a baby will die on the first day of life.

The United States is a riskier place to be born than 68 other countries, according to the new analysis conducted by Save the Children and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

In the industrialized world, the United States has 60 percent of all first-day deaths, but only 38 percent of live births. Approximately 11,300 U.S. babies died on the first day of life in 2011, the report says. Some U.S. counties have first-day death rates common in the developing world, where 98 percent of all first-day deaths occur.

Read the rest at Save the Children

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!