Save the Children's 13th State of the World's Mother's Report

Save the Children's 13th State of the World's Mother's Report Places Niger as the Worst Country in the World to be a Mother.

In commemoration of Mother's Day, Save the Children is publishingits thirteenth annualState of the World's Mothersreport. The focus ison the 171 million children globally who do not have the opportunityto reach their full potential due to the physical and mental effects ofpoor nutrition in the earliest months of life.

This report shows whichcountries are doing the best - and which are doing the worst - atproviding nutrition during the critical window of development thatstarts during a mother's pregnancy and goes through her child's secondbirthday. It looks at six key nutrition solutions, including breastfeeding,that have the greatest potential to save lives, and shows that thesesolutions are affordable, even in the world's poorest countries.

TheInfant and Toddler FeedingScorecardranks 73 developingcountries on measures of early child nutrition. TheBreastfeeding PolicyScorecardexamines maternity leave laws, the right to nursing breaksat work and other indicators to rank 36 developed countries on thedegree to which their policies support women who want to breastfeed.

And the annualMothers' Indexevaluates the status of women's health,nutrition, education, economic well-being and political participation torank 165 countries - both in the industrialized and developing world -to show where mothers and children fare best and where they face thegreatest hardships.