A report by Save the Children ranks Britain as the 24th best place to be a mother - a slight improvement on last year for the UK - when it was 26th.
Norway ranks first followed by Finland, Iceland and Denmark.
Mali, and Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia rank the lowest of the 179 countries.
Sonji Clarke is a Christian consultant obstetrician. She told Premier's News Hour: "Even those of us in the maternity services will be surprised by those findings but I have to say that in the last few years we've had a number of wins and improvements in our services, so it's very sad to hear we're not doing as well as we'd hoped to be."
Dr Clarke raised a number of reasons for the ranking. She said: "We have a significant number of women now who are giving birth for the first time over 40 and that includes women who are giving birth with donor eggs.
"There is no doubt that those have an increased risk during the pregnancy and delivery.
"I don't think it's that you get better care in the private sector - you get better care, certainly, but the NHS will care for every single women who is present and presents at our doors because we are free at the point of entry."
Listen to Premier's Des Busteed speak to Sonji Clarke here:
