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New York, January 1 (IANS): An estimated 3,71,504 babies will be born worldwide on New Year’s Day, and around 60,000 babies are expected to be born in India alone, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said on Friday.
In total, an estimated 140 million (14 crore) children will be born in 2021. Their average life expectancy is expected to be 84 years.
While Fiji in the Pacific will welcome the first baby of 2021, the United States will welcome the last.
Globally, it is estimated that more than half of births on the first day of the New Year take place in 10 countries: India (59,995), China (35,615), Nigeria (21,439), Pakistan (14,161), Indonesia (12,336 ), Ethiopia (12,006), the United States (10,312), Egypt (9,455), Bangladesh (9,236) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (8,640), Unicef said.
“Children born today enter a world very different from a year ago, and a new year provides a new opportunity to reinvent it,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.
“Children born today will inherit the world we began to build for them, today. Let’s make 2021 the year we begin to build a fairer, safer and healthier world for children.”
In India, babies born on Friday will have a life expectancy of 80.9 years, Unicef said.
A thousand more babies survive each day due to the country’s efforts as envisaged in India’s Newborn Action Plan 2014-2020, the UN agency said.
“Anticipating and addressing the potential impact of the pandemic is essential if we want to avoid a rollback of the gains made to save children’s lives. In doing so, we must also think long term, to rebuild a better world when the crisis finally recedes. said UNICEF Representative in India Yasmin Ali Haque.
“The pandemic has shown us the need for systems and policies to protect people at all times, not just in a crisis.”
This year will mark Unicef’s 75th anniversary.
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