Cambodia is the 132nd worst place in the world to be a mother, according to a recent report.

Save the Children’s 16th annual State of the World’s Mothers report ranked 179 countries on its “Mothers Index”, scoring nations on maternal health, child wellbeing and women’s education, economic status and political empowerment.

It found Cambodia had among the world’s highest gaps in survival rates between urban rich and poor children but noted significant progress has been made in cutting child mortality rates, particularly in Phnom Penh – which it profiled as a relative success story.

A child born into Cambodia’s poorest 20 per cent of households was 4.7 times more likely to die before age 5 than those born into the richest 20 per cent, the report says.

Figures from the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) released in February show the mortality rate among children under 5 was reduced from 108 per 1,000 kids in 2010 to 70 in 2014.

Norway and Finland were ranked the two best places to be a mother, while the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo were the worst.