A woman born in Ethiopia is expected to live to age 41 — a life expectancy half that of a Swedish woman. She will likely marry at age seventeen and give birth to six children, not counting those she will lose during pregnancy or within the first five years of life. There's a 35% chance she will be literate and a 50% chance she will live below the poverty line.

For the 29 million women who live in rural, mountainous areas of Ethiopia, early marriage is widespread. Pregnant women customarily deliver their babies at home with only a female elder in attendance. For a woman in obstructed labor, the closest skilled doctor able to provide a cesarean section may be more than 200 miles away. While having many children is extolled in Ethiopian culture, pregnancy and childbirth are risky endeavors for a woman where the maternal death rate is among the highest in the world.

If, as Oprah says, a woman born in America is automatically one of the luckiest women in the world, then based on these national indicators, a woman born in rural Ethiopia must be one of the most unlucky.