Afghanistan Worst Place in World for Women

Domestic violence, maternal mortality rates, and a lack of education put the Central Asian country at the top of the list.

Afghanistan has been named the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman, with the Congo coming in second, according to a survey of experts conducted by Thomson-Reuters. Based on a matrix of sexual violence, non-sexual violence, health threats, access to resources, cultural or religious factors, and human trafficking, the 213 experts determined that Afghanistan was the worst overall, due to its maternal mortality rates, limited health resources, lack of education, and a bunch of other depressing reasons. The Democratic Republic of Congo's history of mass rape campaigns – some 400,000 women are raped each year – beat out the threats faced by women in Pakistan, India, and Somalia, which came in third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.