Neonatal mortality around the world

(Reuters) - Women in the west face a trend of "freebirthing" -- giving birth without any medical support -- while in rural India a new hotline taxi service is being set up to help get labouring mothers to hospital.

Following are some key details of neonatal mortality around the world. The 2000 figures are from the latest (2007) UNICEF basic indicators.

-- Mauritania and Liberia have around the highest rates of neonatal mortality at 70 and 66 deaths and per 1,000 births.

-- India has 43 deaths per 1,000, more than impoverished Eritrea and Bangladesh.

-- The United States neonatal mortality rate stands at 5.

-- The United Kingdom's rate is 4.

-- Sweden is amongst the world's lowest at only 2 deaths along with San Marino, Iceland, Finland and the Czech Republic.

Sources: Reuters/UNICEF: