January 2nd, 2020 / 12:46 PM
/ Updated 4 hours ago
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on a press release released on Wednesday (1 January 2019) has said that out of the 3,92,078 babies expected to be born globally on January 1 around 67,385 would be born in India.
This accounts for 17.1 per cent of the total births across the world on a single day. India is closely followed by the world most populous country China, with an expected 46,299 births on the day contributing 11.8 per cent.
Fiji in the Pacific will most likely deliver 2020’s, first baby, while last will be in the United States. Globally, over half of these births are estimated to take place in eight countries:
India is expected to add nearly 273 million people between 2019 and 2050
Every year the UNICEF celebrates children born on New Year’s Day. “As the calendar flips each January, we are reminded of all the possibilities and potential of each child embarking on her or his life’s journey — if they are just given that chance,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director.
However, in 2018 around 2.5 million newborns didn’t survive the first month after their birth and around one-third of them die on the first day. This is in addition to more than 2.5 million babies born dead each year. Most of them died due to premature births, delivery complications, and infections like sepsis.
On the other hand, over the last three decades, there has been a significant reduction in the death of children before the age of five globally. But the progress for newborns has been slow. Babies dying in the first month after birth accounted for 47% of all deaths among children under five in 2018, which is a 7% rise form the year 1990.
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Written by : Abhijit Nair (Intern)
Edited by : Shubhendu Deshmukh