Words by

Andie Sophia Fontaine

Photo by

National Library of Medicine/Wikimedia Commons

Iceland is amongst the best countries in the world to be a mother, far ahead of even the US and the UK.

According to a new study conducted by Save the Children, the top five countries to be a mother are all Nordic countries. Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden respectively held the top spots.

Unfortunately, the five worst countries to be a mother were all on the African continent. The bottom spots were held by Niger, Mali, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

Not that western countries should feel too superior: the UK landed in 24th place, and the US in 33rd. The United States’ ranking, in fact, is in most cases far behind any European country.