Babies’ Day Out: Around 4 Lakh Births Witnessed Globally On New Year; Highest Number In India, Says UNICEF

Close to 3,95,000 babies were born around the world on New Year’s Day and India registered the highest number of these births, PTI has reported.

Nearly 70,000 were born in India, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The first babies were born in Fiji in the Pacific, and the last babies were born in United States on New Year.

Over half of these births took place in eight countries. These countries include India, China, Pakistan, United States and Bangladesh.

India is likely to register 69,944 of these births. China stands second with 44,940 births followed by Nigeria (25,685), Pakistan (15,112), Indonesia (13,256), US (11,086), the Democratic Republic of Congo (10,053) and Bangladesh (8,428). Sydney greeted an estimated 168 babies on the New Year.

The UNICEF requested nations to meet every newborn’s right to health and survival in the New Year. It also warned that many babies will not even be named as they might die on the first day itself. According to UNICEF, about one million babies died on the day they were born in 2017. In the same year, close to 2.5 million babies died in their first month of life.