3.71 lakh global births on first day of year, 60K in India: Unicef

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 1

As the calendar flipped to 2021, UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) estimated the birth of 3,71,504 babies globally on New Year’s Day.

Globally, over half of these births are estimated to take place in 10 countries, India leading the charts with 59,995 births expected on Friday.

Babies born in India on January 1, 2021, are expected to have a life expectancy of 80.9 years, the agency said.

“An additional 1,000 babies are surviving each day in India due to the country’s efforts as envisaged in the India Newborn Action Plan 2014-2020. A million newborns with special needs survive each year thanks to the additional 320 district-level special newborn care units established in this period,” according to Unicef India Country Representative Dr Yasmin Ali Haque.

The global agency projected that Fiji in the Pacific would welcome 2021’s first baby and the United States its last.

In total, an estimated 140 million children will be born in 2021 with an average life expectancy of 84 years.

“The children born today enter a world far different than even a year ago, and a New Year brings a new opportunity to re-imagine it,” Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

Importantly, 2021 will also mark the 75th anniversary of the Unicef.

Over 2021, the Unicef and partners will be commemorating the anniversary with events celebrating three-quarters of a century of protecting children from conflict, disease and exclusion and championing their right to survival, health and education.

“Today, as the world faces a global pandemic, economic slowdown, rising poverty and deepening inequality, the need for Unicef’s work is as great as ever,” said Fore.

In response to the global pandemic, the Uniceflaunched the Reimagine campaign, a global effort to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic from becoming a lasting crisis for children.

The Unicef used the annual live births numbers and period life expectancy from the latest revision of the UN’s World Population Prospects (2019) to estimate the babies born on January 1, 2021, and their cohort life expectancy.

140 million babies expected

• Babies born in India on January 1, 2021, expected to have a life expectancy of 80.9 years, says Unicef
• The global agency has projected that Fiji in the Pacific will welcome 2021’s first baby and the US its last
• In total, an estimated 140 million children will be born in 2021 with an average life expectancy of 84 years