U.S lags behind at number 25 in the annual State of the World’s Mothers report released by Save the Children on Tuesday.

Norway topped the list while Niger was listed as the worst place to be a mother.

"While the US has moved up in the rankings, ahead of last year's 31st place, we still fall below most wealthy nations. A woman in the US is more than 7 times as likely to die of a pregnancy-related cause in her lifetime than a woman in Italy or Ireland. When it comes to the number of children enrolled in preschools or the political status of women, the United States also places in the bottom 10 countries of the developed world”, said Carolyn Miles, President & CEO of Save the Children in a news release.

U.S healthcare remains the most expensive yet one of the poorest in terms of quality of healthcare services in the developed world, recent reports have suggested.

Afghanistan was at the bottom of the list for two years. The fall of Taliban in the country in 2001 has resulted in more women receiving better education and access to general hospitals, according to media reports.

This year’s worst country for a mother to live, Niger, is facing severe food shortage.

Globally, malnutrition is associated with higher infant mortality rates. Young mothers who are underfed or overworked give birth to underweight babies with health complications and these grow up to be malnourished parents of another generation of underweight babies.

The report says that focusing on the first 1,000 days from the start of pregnancy could break the cycle of malnourishment.

"We urgently need global leadership on malnutrition that results in key nutrition projects being rolled out for mothers and babies to ensure health and survival," Brendan Cox, director of policy said to BBC.

In a separate study published in 2010 in The Lancet, researchers found that only 23 countries of the 180 countries studied were on track of achieving the Millennium Development Goal 5, a target of reducing maternal mortality rate by 75 percent. The study says that “more than 50% of all maternal deaths were in only six countries in 2008 (India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo).”

Breastfeeding can save many lives-up to 1 million children each year, said Miles.

"All mothers should have the support they need to choose to breastfeed if they want to. Breastfeeding is good for babies no matter where they live, but in developing countries, especially those without access to clean water, breastfeeding can be a matter of life or death,” she said in a news release.