Advertisement

Canada just scrapes into top 20 countries to be a mother. Here's why we don't rank higher

 
 

Most Canadians think of Canada as a great place to be a mother and raise children, but a new report finds there is room for improvement.

Canada was ranked 20th in Save the Children's annual State of the World's Mothers report, well behind the top five countries: Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden. Our neighbours to the south fared much worse, coming in at no. 33.

As many of us plan to honour our mothers on Mother’s Day this Sunday, the report reminds us there is work to be done the other 364 days of the year. Canada dropped two spots in the ranking compared to last year.. The report measured lifetime risk of maternal health, children’s well-being, educational status, economic status and political status. The last time our country was in the top 10 was in 2006, when we came in at no. 7.

So, why are we not up there in the rankings with the Scandinavian countries this year?

“We should be there,” said Patricia Erb, Save the Children Canada’s president and CEO, in a phone interview with Yahoo Canada. “It’s related to inequity and race. More needs to be done to focus on our indigenous populations.”

Thanks, mainly, to our public health-care system we rank much higher than the U.S. Though there’s work to be done to ensure everyone has equal and timely access to the system, notes Erb. In Canada women face a 1 in 5,200 lifetime risk of maternal death. American mothers have the worst rate (1 in 1,800) of any developed country in the world. Our under-5 mortality rate was 5.2 per 1,000 live births. While in the top-ranked country, Norway, the rate was 2.8 per 1,000 live births.

When it comes to education Canadian children are getting 15.8 years of formal schooling. In Somalia, the lowest ranked country, it’s a mere 2.2 years of formal schooling, according to the report.

In terms of economic status the gross national income per capita in Canada was $52,200 (USD), which was a bit lower than America’s $53,470 (US), according to the report. But, we also beat the States when it comes to participation of women in national government. The percentage of seats held by women in Canada was 28.2 per cent, compared to 19.5 per cent in the U.S. Yet, North America still lags well behind Norway where the percentage of seats held by women is 39.6 per cent.

Canadians should be proud of how well we support mothers and children, but need to commit to doing more, said Erb.

“We’re slipping,” said Erb. “Canada, as a society, we need to get it right.”

Part of getting it right in the long-term will mean finding a way to improve the health and education outcomes for indigenous populations in rural and urban settings, said Erb.

While we have slipped in the rankings over the years Erb said with commitment from government and committed individuals Canada can make it back into the top ten countries for mothers in the world. What a wonderful Mother’s Day gift that would be.