Quality of life for mother and children in the urban slums of Delhi is one of the worst in the world, claims Save the Children in its annual State of World’s Mother report. What is more shocking is that India stands at 140th position in the Mother’s Index ranking out of 179 countries.

Save the Children 16th annual Mother’s index assesses the well being of the mother and child in 179 countries.

A part of the report examines the urban child survival gap between the rich and the poor kids in 36 developing countries. In the age group 0 to years, the urban poor are 3.2 times more likely to die compared to the urban rich in Delhi, according to the report scorecard. The report’s findings state that the quality of life of mothers and children in the urban slums of the capital city is one of the worst in the world and the health inequity between the rich and the poor is stark.

See full report here

Meanwhile, it also says that India is among the top 10 countries having greatest survival divide between wealthy and poor urban children. Other countries in the list are Rwanda, Cambodia, Kenya, Vietnam, Peru, Madagascar, Ghana, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

For babies born in many of the world’s fast-growing cities, it’s survival of the richest that in many metros like Mumbai and New Delhi, it’s a tale of two cities – one of the rich and another of the poor -- in terms of access to basic health services, said the report.