Norway is the best place in the world to be a mother, according to the annual scorecard released by Save the Children.

Australia is the only non-European country to make the top ten in the survey of 179 countries.

Somalia is judged the worst place for mothers, just below the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

The 16th annual Mothers' Index is based on five indicators related to maternal health, education, income levels and the status of women.

Scandinavian countries have consistently taken the top spots with Norway this year beating out Finland which held the top spot last year.

Australia came in at number nine, behind Iceland (3), Denmark (4), Sweden (5), The Netherlands (6), Spain (7) and Germany (8).

Belgium was ranked number ten.

France and Britain take the 23rd and 24th spot, below Canada at number 20.

The US dropped from number 31 on the list to 33, behind Japan, Poland and Croatia.

The ten worst places are all sub-Saharan African countries, with Haiti tied with Sierra Leone for the 169th spot.

Nine of the bottom ten countries are wracked by conflict.

The disparity in terms of infant mortality is striking.

In the top 10 countries, one mother out of 290 will lose a child before the age of five.

In the bottom 10, that rate stands at one in eight.

Save the Children also looked at infant mortality rates in the world's 24 wealthiest capital cities and found Washington had the highest rate at 7.9 deaths per 1,000.

By comparison, Stockholm and Oslo had infant mortality rates at or below two deaths per 1,000.

Save the Children CEO Carolyn Miles said the data confirmed that a country's economic wealth is not the sole factor leading to happy mothers, but that policies need to be put in place.

In the case of Norway, "they do have wealth, but they also invest that wealth in things like mothers and children, as a very high priority", Miles said.

Save the Children also reported that mothers are having a tougher time in the world's expanding cities, with survival gaps between rich and poor widening.