On the last day of 2018, UNICEF released a prediction that China would welcome 44,940 babies into the world on New Year's Day, accounting for just over 1 in 10 births worldwide on January 1.

On 1 January 2019 in China, (left) mother Xu Hui rests with her newborn daughter Li Xin Yao.[Photo:UNICEF]

According to UNICEF's prediction, over half of the world's New Year's Day newborns were expected to arrive in eight countries: India, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, the United States, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bangladesh.

To meet every newborn's right to survive and live with good health, UNICEF has been implementing its "Every Child Alive" campaign, which calls for immediate investment to deliver affordable, quality health care for every mother and every newborn. To achieve this goal, UNICEF has partnered with national governments on work to reduce the infant mortality rate.

"China has made enormous progress on reducing the number of mothers and children dying, by increasing access to high-quality primary health care across the country," said Dr. Douglas Noble, the UNICEF deputy representative to China. He added that "UNICEF has worked, and will continue to work, in partnership with the Government of China to ensure every birth occurs with skilled birth attendance, ending preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths and making sure no child dies from a preventable cause."