In a poll of experts conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Afghanistan has been voted the most dangerous country in the world for women.
The experts were asked to rank countries according to their perceptions of danger in cultural and religious areas, as well as more specific risks in areas like health, trafficking and sexual violence.
Afghanistan headed the list because of its lack of access to doctors and the country’s staggering maternal mortality rates, in addition to the absence generally of social and economic rights for women.
Second on the list was the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, where approximately 400,000 women are raped every year.
Pakistan, India and Somalia were ranked third, fourth and fifth place respectively.