Vietnam to see about 3,000 babies born on first day of 2021

Illustrative image (Source: everettclinic.com)

Hanoi (VNA) – About 3,000 babies are to be born in Vietnam in the first day of 2021, accounting for 0.8 percent of the total 371,504 babies given birth in the day around the world, according to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).

The UNICEF predicts that the average life expectancy of the children will be 88.6.

Fiji was forecast to be the country to welcome the first baby of the year, while the US will see the last one born in the day, according to the agency.

It estimated that regionally, most of the births are due to take place in three countries - China (35,615), Indonesia (12,336) and the Philippines (6,090).

Over half of the 371,504 global births are estimated to 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 Democratic Republic of the Congo (8,640).

For the estimates, UNICEF used vital registration and nationally representative household survey data to estimate the monthly and daily fractions of births in countries. 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.

The UNICEF warned that Vietnam is suffering gender imbalance with 11.5 boys over 100 girls.

2021 marks the 75th anniversary of UNICEF. Over the course of the year, UNICEF and its partners will be commemorating the anniversary with events and announcements celebrating three-quarters of a century of protecting children from conflict, disease and exclusion and championing their right to survival, health and education./.