The 15 best and worst countries in Africa to raise your children

Pulse Nigeria
Inemesit Udodiong

School children for illustrative purposes

A recent ranking has revealed the best and worst countries for children in the world.
The research evaluates 80 countries based on a global perception-based survey and eight country attributes.
These factors are human rights, family friendliness, gender equality, happiness, income equality, safety, well-developed public education and health care system.

Nordic countries dominate the list of best countries for raising children while African nations are the lowest-ranking according to the latest U.S News report.

Here are the 5 best places in Africa for children:

South Africa — 54 out of 80

South has the lowest rates of child marriage are in the continent (3.3%).

Morocco — 55 out of 80

Morocco has made economic progress since the government decided to pursue privatization and economic reform in the 1980s.

Tanzania — 62 out of 80

The life expectancy in Tanzania has improved in recent years.

Smiling African children

Tunisia — 68 out of 80

Investments in education, infrastructure, and the growing support of women’s rights has made Tunisia a better place for children.

Ghana — 69 out of 80

Ghana reportedly spends 6% of its gross domestic product on education, which is among the highest in the world.

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Worst places to raise children:

According to the latest Save the Children report, some African countries are the worst places in the world to raise children.This is due to poverty, confliction, discrimination against girls, malnutrition, child labour, child marriage, early pregnancy, extreme violence and other “childhood enders.”

David Wright, Save the Children’s Regional Director, said, “More than half the world’s children start their lives held back because they are a girl, because they are poor or because they are growing up in a war-zone. Early marriage, child labour and malnutrition are just some of the life-changing events that can rob children of their childhood.”

The 10 worst African nations for raising children are:

DR Congo
Sierra Leone
Guinea
Nigeria
Somalia

Somalia has the world’s highest rate of children who do not live to see their fifth birthday (15%).

Best and worst places to have children (Statista)

South Sudan

According to the report, South Sudan “has the highest rate of children out of school in the world (67%) and the second-highest rate of displacement globally (31% forcibly displaced). South Sudan is also in the top five for child marriage at 40%.”