Being a mother is tough enough but depending on where you live in the world it can be even tougher than usual, and if you're living in the U.S. it is getting even more difficult every year.
According to a recently released Save the Children report that ranks the best and worst places to be a mother in the world, the U.S. has dropped to 31st on the list, which is down from the 5th place standing they owned back in 1999, the first year the list emerged.
This is the 15th annual "State of the World's Mothers" report the organization has conducted and America's 31st ranking was out of 178 countries that are part of the research.
Finland came in number one while Somalia was at the bottom of the list.
There are a few reasons why America's rank has dropped. One is the fact that since 2000, the risk that a 15-year-old girl will die during her lifetime from a maternal cause has increased by 50 percent in the U.S., from one in 3,700 to one in 2,400.
"Nothing will stop a mother from trying to keep her children safe and protected," said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, "but when disaster strikes, whether it's a war in Syria, a tornado in Oklahoma or a typhoon in the Philippines, women and children are at the greatest risk - 14 times more likely to die than men. Fortunately, our evidence also shows we can save and dramatically improve the lives of mothers and children, even in the most challenging places to live, if we invest in the services they need."
Save the Children explains the "State of the World's Mothers" report scores countries largely based on mothers' and children's health, educational, economic and political status. To use the two countries that finished on the top and at the bottom of the list as examples, in Somalia, ranked 178th, one woman in 16 is likely to die of a maternal cause during her lifetime and one child in seven does not reach their fifth birthday. By comparison, number one ranked Finland sees maternal deaths affect less than one in 12,000 women, and the probability of a child dying before the age of five is around one in 345.
