India, Not a Happy Place to Be a Mother

Bangalore: Despite the never ending saga of poverty, riots and corruption, Indians were voted among the most contented people on the planet in a recent survey.  Despite many disasters, the survey says the world is a happier place today than it was four years. However, being a happy mother in India seems to be quite a tough task as the country has been ranked 76th among 80 “less developed” countries, even below some of the poor African nations, according to a report released to mark the Mothers’ Day being celebrated across the world.

The State of World’s Mothers 2012 report by international child rights NGO ‘Save the Children’ has seen India slipping one position down from the 75th spot of last year’s report.

According to the report, which looks at how good the life of a woman or a mother is around the globe, one out of every 140 women in India runs the risk of dying during childbirth, which is a much higher figure compared to neighbouring nations such as China and Sri Lanka.

In China, one in 1,500 women runs the risk of maternal death, while it is one in 1,100 in Sri Lanka and one in 180 in Myanmar.

The study also found that less than half (49 percent) of women in India use some form of modern contraceptives and only 53 percent of births are attended by skilled health workers, which is the fifth lowest in all of Tier II countries.

With 43 percent of underweight children in under-five age group, India has the highest rate of child malnutrition of all Tier II countries and the second highest rate in the world (tied with Yemen) after Timor-Leste.

(With PTI inputs)