The report, entitled, ‘The Situation of Infancy 2007’, by the United Nations Children’s Fund, placed Portugal as the country with the 13th lowest infant mortality rate on a list that contained 180 nations.

Portugal, with this placing, is said by UNICEF to be safer to have and raise a baby than it would be in countries such as Britain, the United States or Germany.

Switzerland, Slovenia, Finland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Norway, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Andorra, Singapore, Iceland and San Marino are the only nations that reported lower infant mortality rates than those registered in Portugal for 2005.

But Portugal’s progress in this area the past 15 years is the most remarkable of all countries studied, bringing down its mortality rate from 14 deaths in every thousand children to five in every thousand 15 years later.

UNICEF further revealed that 111,000 babies were born here last year, with one thousand children up to the age of five dying over this same period.

The report also found that Portugal has the 11th highest life expectancy rate in the world (78), while the percentage of the Portuguese population living below the breadline (with one dollar or less a day) dropping to two percent.