KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Malaysian mothers are nearly nine times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than their Singaporean counterparts, a survey has shown.

The State of the World’s Mothers 2015 report by international children’s rights group Save the Children released on Monday also showed Malaysia declining in the ranks from 68th last year to 71st out of 179 countries surveyed this year.

One in 1,600 women in Malaysia are at risk of maternal death, compared to one out of 13,900 women in neighbouring Singapore, according to the report.  

Singapore was ranked 14th, the highest among Asian countries in the survey that assessed the well-being of mothers and children based on the lifetime risk of maternal death, children’s mortality rate below five years of age, children’s expected years of formal schooling, the gross national income (GNI) per capita, and women’s participation in national government.

Norway topped the list, while Somalia was ranked the worst country in the world for mother and children’s health, educational, economic and political status.

A child born in Malaysia is also three times more likely to die before turning five compared to Singapore, with the child mortality rate here at 8.5 per 1,000 births, while Singapore’s is 2.8 per 1,000 births.

Singapore, a developed country, also surpassed Malaysia in terms of the involvement of women in politics.

Only 14.2 per cent of seats in the upper and lower houses of Parliament in Malaysia, which aims to join the ranks of developed nations by 2020, are held by women, compared to a quarter in Singapore, according to the report.

Children in Malaysia are expected to have 12.7 years of formal education and the developing nation is recorded in the survey as having a GNI of US$10,430 (RM37,260) per capita as of 2013.

The expected years of formal schooling are defined in the report as the number of years a child of school-going age can expect to spend in school and university.

Malaysia ranked higher in the survey than other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand (83), the Philippines (105) and Indonesia (112).

Women in Indonesia and the Philippines face a one in 220 and one in 250 lifetime risk of maternal death respectively.

Save the Children President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carolyn Miles said a greater share of child deaths is happening in urban areas as developing countries become urbanised at a “breathtaking” pace.

“In developing countries, the urban poor are often as bad as, or worse off than, the average rural family, and for many rural families, moving to the city may result in more — rather than less — hardship,” Miles said in the report.