India is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country around 2027.
Nearly
400,000 babies were born around the world on New
Year's Day with India recording the highest number of these
births worldwide at 67,385, the UN children's agency said.
An
estimated 392,078 babies were born around the world on New Year's
Day, according to UNICEF. Of this, an estimated 67,385 babies were
born in India, the most globally. China comes in second with 46,299
births.
The
beginning of a new year and a new decade is an opportunity to reflect
on our hopes and aspirations not only for our future, but the future
of those who will come after us, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta
Fore said.
As
the calendar flips each January, we are reminded of all the
possibility and potential of each child embarking on her or his
life's journeyif they are just given that chance.
Fiji
in the Pacific most likely delivered 2020's first baby, while the US,
the last of the New Year's Day. Globally, over half of these births
were estimated to have taken place in eight countries - India
(67,385), China (46,299), Nigeria (26,039), Pakistan (16,787),
Indonesia (13,020), United States of America (10,452), Democratic
Republic of Congo (10,247) and Ethiopia (8,493).
Each
January, UNICEF
celebrates babies born on New Year's Day, an auspicious day for child
birth around the world, it said. However, for millions of newborns
around the world, the day of their birth is far less auspicious.
In
2018, 2.5 million newborns died in just their first month of life;
about a third of them on the first day of life. Among those children,
most died from preventable causes such as premature birth,
complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis. In
addition, more than 2.5 million babies are born dead each year.
UNICEF
said over the past three decades, the world has seen remarkable
progress in child survival, cutting the number of children worldwide
who die before their fifth birthday by more than half. But there has
been slower progress for newborns. Babies dying in the first month
accounted for 47 per cent of all deaths among children under five in
2018, up from 40 per cent in 1990.
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