Vietnam to see 3,000 babies born on first day of 2021
(VOVWORLD) - About 3,000 babies are to be born in Vietnam on the first day of 2021, accounting for 0.8 percent of the more than 370,000 babies given birth in the day around the world, according to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
Their average life expectancy is expected to be 88.6 years.
As the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, Do Thuy Duong let out her first scream at Hanoi's National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology, becoming the first baby to be born in Vietnam in 2021.
While UNICEF welcomes every birth, it signals a growing concern with the disturbing level of pre-birth sex selection in Vietnam – resulting in a very high rate of sex ratio imbalance at birth, with more than 110 boys per 100 girls, according to the 2019 Population and Housing Census.
Vietnam was listed among the three countries with the highest rate of sex ratio imbalance at birth, behind China and India.