New Zealand is the fourth most ideal country to be a mother, according to an international study.

Less than a week before Mother's Day, Save the Children released its annual State of the World's Mothers report, which is a study comparing the conditions for mothers in 165 countries around the world. The list is also known as the Mother's Index.

The factors considered for the rankings include health, nutrition, education and economic status of mothers and children in the 165 countries. The 2012 report is the 13th in the organization's annual study.

Norway, Iceland and Sweden are the top three best countries for mothers, respectively, according to the report.

New Zealand is three places ahead of Australia, which ranks seventh in the list, followed by Belgium and Ireland. Netherlands and United Kingdom tie in the tenth place.

Australia ranked second, while New Zealand ranked ninth in the previous year's Mother's Index.

"New Zealand's Well Child service, which is free to all New Zealand parents, is a great source of support to families and is something that is unique to New Zealand. This is undoubtedly a huge factor in our ranking,'' Plunket spokeswoman Nikki Hooper told APNZ.

The United States ranks 25th in the list, an improvement from its 31st ranking last year.

On the other hand, Niger comes first in the list of Top 10 worst places in which to be a mother. It is followed by Afghanistan, Yemen, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Eritrea, Chad, Sudan and South Sudan.

The report noted that almost a third of all children living in the lowest-ranked among the 165 countries suffer from malnutrition.

"Conditions for mothers and their children in the bottom 10 countries are grim. On average, 1 in 23 mothers will die from pregnancy-related causes. One child in 6 dies before his or her fifth birthday, and 1 child in 3 suffers from malnutrition," said a statement from Save the Children.

Save the Children is composed of 24 nonprofit organizations from Europe and North America, addressing issues facing the children across the globe and providing assistance in times of disasters and calamities. The organization has an ongoing petition for world leaders to make a commitment towards ending preventable child deaths across the world.