UNICEF: Nearly 400 babies to be born on New Year’s Day in Kyrgyzstan

Approximately 400 babies will be born in Kyrgyzstan on New Year’s Day, UNICEF said today. The estimated 385,793 babies will be born globally on New Year’s Day.  Globally, over half of these births are estimated to take place in nine countries:

·        India — 69,070

·        China — 44,760

·        Nigeria — 20,210

·        Pakistan — 14,910

·        Indonesia — 13,370

·        The United States of America — 11,280

·        The Democratic Republic of Congo — 9,400

·        Ethiopia — 9,020

·        Bangladesh — 8,370

While many babies will survive, some will not make it past their first day. In 2016, an estimated 2,600 children died within the first 24 hours every day of the year. For almost 2 million newborns, their first week was also their last. In all, 2.6 million children died before the end of their first month. Among those children, more than 80 per cent of all newborn deaths are due to preventable and treatable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis and pneumonia. 

“This New Year, UNICEF’s resolution is to help give every child more than an hour, more than a day, more than a month - more than survival,” said Yukie Mokuo, UNICEF Representative in Kyrgyzstan. “We call on governments and partners to join the fight to save millions of children’s lives by providing proven, low-cost solutions.”

Over the past two decades, the world has seen unprecedented progress in child survival, halving the number of children worldwide who die before their fifth birthday to 5.6 million in 2016. In Kyrgyzstan, from 1990 to 2016 the number of deaths of children under 5 was reduced by two thirds, while the neonatal mortality rate was cut in half from 24 to 12 deaths per 1,000 live births. But despite these advances, there has been slower progress for newborns. Babies dying in the first month account for 46 per cent of all deaths among children under five.

Next month, UNICEF will launch Every Child Alive, a global campaign to demand and deliver affordable, quality health care solutions for every mother and newborn. These include a steady supply of clean water and electricity at health facilities, the presence of a skilled health attendant during birth, disinfecting the umbilical cord, breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, and skin-to-skin contact between the mother and child.

“We are now entering the era when all the world’s newborns should have the opportunity to see the 22nd Century,” added Yukie Mokuo. “Unfortunately, nearly half of the children born this year likely won’t. A child born in Sweden in January 2018 is most likely to live to 2100, while a child from Kyrgyzstan would be unlikely to live beyond 2090.”

Notes to Editors

For complete non-rounded estimates on births and life expectancy by countries, click here. For the data, UNICEF worked with the World Data Lab.

The estimates for the number of babies born draws on the period indicators and the life tables of the UN’s World Population Prospects (2017). Building on these datasets, World Data Lab’s (WDL) algorithm projects the number of births for each day by country and gender, and their corresponding life expectancy.

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About UNICEF: UNICEF works for every child. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. UNICEF opened its office in Kyrgyzstan in 1994. For more information about UNICEF and its work with children, please visit our https://www.unicef.org/kyrgyzstan and sign up for our pages in Facebook, Instagram and Twitter