The future is here.
We have turned the page of the chaos of the year that was 2020, and celebrate that 2021 is finally here.
The
first baby of 2021 was born just a few seconds into the new year at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, while Ireland's second new year's baby arrived just seconds later in Co. Cork.
According to Unicef, estimated 157 babies will be born in Ireland today, with 371,504 babies born in total around the world. In comparison, India welcomed 59,995 yesterday, followed by China, where 35,615 babies were born on New Year's Day.
This has been a difficult year for all of us, and there is perhaps no better way to turn the page than to welcome new young lives into the world,” said Unicef Ireland Executive Director Peter Power.
He said that today’s world will be inherited by the children born today.
“With the challenges of 2020 behind us, and the opportunities of 2021 before us, now is the time to begin to build a better world. Children born today will inherit the world we begin to build for them—today.”
According to Unicef data, babies born in Ireland on New Year’s Day have an average life expectancy of 105.6 years – in comparison to babies born in Ireland back in 2000, when average life expectancy was just 76.5.
The data above was released as part of Unicef's 75th anniversary. The organisation is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.
