Albania ranked 83rd in Mother's Index

Monday 26 May 2014

The 2014 Mothers Index evaluates all countries against five indicators: Lifetime risk of maternal death, Under-5 mortality rate, expected years of formal schooling, Gross national income per capita and Participation of women in national government.

In Central and Eastern Europe, under five mortality rate is highest in Albania, Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria. Albania has the highest under five mortality rate of any country in the Balkan Peninsula with 16.7 per 1,000 live births. All other countries in the region have rates below 12 per 1,000. According to the 2013 Save the Children’s State World’s Mothers report, Albanian newborns are 50% more likely to die on their day of birth than babies born in Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

More specific findings on Albania are:

Albania’s performance ranks the 83rd on the Index and it has fallen two places from last year ranking Index Report. Although, Albania performs quite well on health-related indicators (especially lifetime risk of maternal mortality) than its economic rank, it falls in the bottom 40% of countries on women's political status and the bottom third on educational status. More specific findings on Albania are as below:

·         Mothers in Albania face a 1 in 2,200 chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth

·         At 16.7 child deaths per 1,000 live births

·        Children can expect to receive only just 10.8 years of formal schooling, which puts Albania 119th in the world in terms of educational achievement. Compared to children in other CEE/CIS countries, Albanian children receive the fewest years of schooling in the region.

·         Albania has 1/12th the national wealth of the US (GNI per capita is 4,030 vs. 52,340, respectively) and yet has roughly the same lifetime risk of maternal death (1 in 2,200 vs. 1 in 2,400).

·         Albania performs better on women's participation in national government, on which it ranks 106th. Women hold 20 percent of parliamentary seats in Albania.

Save the Children calls on world leaders to take national and international action to step up efforts to tackle newborn, child and maternal mortality through:

  • Ensuring that every mother and newborn living in crisis has access to high quality health care: 
  • Investing much more in women and girls and ensure their protection;
  • Building stronger institutions and promoting early action, social protection, disaster risk reduction and strong health systems that provide universal health coverage and provide for the most vulnerable;
  • Designing emergency interventions with a longer-term view and the specific needs of mothers and newborns in mind;
  • Ensuring political engagement and adequate financing, coordination and research around maternal and newborn health in crisis settings.