State of the World's Mothers 2012

In commemoration of Mother’s Day, Save the Children is publishing its thirteenth annual State of the World’s Mothers report. The focus is on the 171 million children globally who do not have the opportunity to reach their full potential due to the physical and mental effects of poor nutrition in the earliest months of life. This report shows which countries are doing the best – and which are doing the worst – at providing nutrition during the critical window of development that starts during a mother’s pregnancy and goes through her child’s second birthday. It looks at six key nutrition solutions, including breastfeeding, that have the greatest potential to save lives, and shows that these solutions are affordable, even in the world’s poorest countries.

The Infant and Toddler Feeding Scorecard ranks 73 developing countries on measures of early child nutrition. The Breastfeeding Policy Scorecard examines maternity leave laws, the right to nursing breaks at work and other indicators to rank 36 developed countries on the degree to which their policies support women who want to breastfeed. And the annual Mothers’ Index evaluates the status of women’s health, nutrition, education, economic well-being and political participation to rank 165 countries – both in the industrialized and developing world – to show where mothers and children fare best and where they face the greatest hardships.