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11th October 2016
11:19am BST
A list of the best country in the world to be a girl has just been published.
It is based on an analysis on issues that affect girls and young women. Sweden has topped the list which was compiled by the Save the Children charity to mark today, International Day of the Girl. Niger is last, and Ireland doesn't even make the top 20.
Reports in the Telegraph show that, based on 2015 figures, the index took into account female education, rates of child marriage, teen pregnancy, the amount of women in Government and maternity issues. And some of the results are astounding.
Ireland's ranking of 29th place was affected by the low level of female representation in parliament which stands at just sixteen per cent. This compares with the UK which has 29 per cent females in government, still a relatively low amount. Rwanda has the highest proportion of women in parliament where 64 per cent of MPs are women; next is Bolivia and Cuba.
Although it's the largest economy, America is only ranked 32nd, which is below Algeria. This is because of the high levels of teen pregnancy and high mortality rates compared to other places in its income group.
Here are the top 20 countries according to the report:
1.Sweden
2.Finland
3. Norway
4. Netherlands
5. Belgium
6. Denmark
7. Slovenia
8. Portugal
9. Switzerland
10. Italy
11. Spain
12. Germany
13. Austria
14. Luxembourg
15. UK
16. New Zealand
17. Israel
18. France
19. Canada
20. Serbia
Sub-Saharan African countries trailed among the bottom of the 144 entries. They had high rates of deprivation across most of the selection criteria. Child marriage was the main issue affecting them, and the fact that girls are more affected by natural disasters in these countries. The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone also gave rise to the closure of many schools which increased dramatically the amount of teen pregnancies.
Are you surprised Ireland's ranking wasn't higher? Let us know your thoughts!
