India Welcomes Highest Number of Babies on the New Year’s Day: UNICEF

India has welcome highest number of babies in the world on the New Year Day. As many as 69,944 babies are expected to have taken birth on the 1st day of the year. India would be followed by China, which would welcome 44,940 babies in more than 395,000 children, that has taken birth across the world on the New Year Day, according to the report by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund or UNICEF.

Around 18 percent of total baby births across the world, is estimated to take place in India only, according to the UNICEF report. Out of 69,944 babies born in India, Uttar Pradesh is likely to have welcomed around 16,000 babies.

In Uttar Pradesh, most of the children die in their first month of life. Among these deaths, most died from preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery and infections like sepsis and pneumonia, said Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF India representative.

“This New Year Day, let us all make a resolution to fulfill every right of each girl and boy, starting with the right to survive,” said Yasmin.

Out of 3,95,072 children birth worldwide on the first day of the year, a quarter of children are born in South Asia alone. Pakistan with 15,112 babies has been placed fourth in the list and Bangladesh with 8,428 babies holds the eighth position.

The year 2019 also marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which UNICEF will be commemorating with events across the world, throughout the year. Under the convention, the respective governments are committed to take measures to save every child by providing good quality healthcare, nutrition and education.

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, said, “This New Year Day, let’s all make a resolution to fulfill every right of every child, starting with the right to survive. We can save millions of babies if we invest in training and equipping local health workers so that every newborn is born into a safe pair of hands”.

In 2017, about 1 million babies died the day they were born and 2.5 million babies died in the first month of their life. Among those children, most deaths are because of the preventable causes such as premature birth, infections like sepsis and pneumonia and complications during delivery in violation of their basic right to survival, the UNICEF said.