Question 11

	Lowest: Sweden, United States and Japan.
	Highest: Somalia, Nigeria and India.

Question 12

High maternal death rates are often caused by malnutrition. Malnutrition impairs women's physical development and health and affects their capacity to bear healthy children.

Women are more likely than men to be malnourished. Half of all women in Africa and south-west Asia are malnourished. In many developing countries, food is distributed within households according to a person's status rather than nutritional needs. In India and Bangladesh, females are given less food from birth.

The maternal death rate reflects women's lack of access to the health-care system, especially in rural areas.

Many women do not have control over the number of children they have. They lack access to contraceptives or may not be able to use them because of economic limitations or cultural norms.

High fertility rates contribute to many health problems for women.

Question 13

Improved nutrition and access to health care, including prenatal care as well as care during childbirth.

Maternal mortality rates decrease as education for women increases.

Question 14

Bhutan, India and Nigeria

Question 15

Australia, Japan, Sweden and United States.

Question 16

Bhutan, China, India and South Korea.

Question 17

China.

Question 18

Girls are sometimes given less food than boys in the same family. In rural Bangladesh, for example, malnutrition was found to be almost three times more common among girls than among boys.

To limit its population growth, China has a strict policy of one child per family. When girls marry, they are no longer considered to be members of their own family, but are now members of their husband's family. They are not available to help support their own families. Boys have more economic value to the family because they can contribute income and because it is their responsibility to care for the parents in old age. Thus, if families can only have one child, there is a cultural preference for a son.

In some regions, patriarchal inheritance customs also lead parents with limited resources to invest more in their sons than in their daughters. Sons will inherit the family's land and holdings; daughters cannot.

Some cultures require the parents of a daughter to pay a large dowry to the family of her husband when she is married. This dowry can be an enormous financial burden to a poor family with several daughters.

Question 19

Among the many factors are the mother's and infant's diet, whether the mother and infant have access to medical care, including prenatal care and immunisations, as well as access to clean water and sanitation, and exposure to diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Drought, famine, floods, war, and other calamities also play a part.