Written by, Sandeep Kumar
Updated March, 14, 2023
Are you new parents-to-be? Are you researching fertility and birth rates?
Below are some numbers on how many babies are born each day:
Do you want to find out more information about how many babies are born each day worldwide?
This article has provided some invaluable information and statistics about how many babies are born each day and many more.
Here are some of the topics elaborated in this article:
In 2019, there were 3.745.540 births in the USA.
Sources: (UNICEF USA) (CDC) (Baby Center) (CDC GOV) (NBC news) (CDC Data Briefs) (Statista)
The US fertility rate hasn’t stopped decreasing in the last thirty years or so. In fact, according to the National Vital Statistics report for 2019, when the total of births was 3.745.540, it was recorded a slight decline by 0.8 percent looking back into 2018 (3.791.712).
In addition to this, the latest birth count in 2018 showed a 9 percent downfall than the highest ever recorded of 4.316.233 births in 2007.
Here are some more statistics about the US curated from the National Center for Health (2018):
The start of a new year, in this case, 2021, brought many reasons for celebration. Among the many reasons was the celebration of a new life coming.
That being said, the US was expected to welcome 10.312 newborns on New Year’s Day, as announced by UNICEF.
Over 380.000 babies were born daily in 2020 on a global level.
Sources: (The World Counts) (Live Science) (Statistics Time)
It is difficult to determine the exact number of births every day since not all births are registered.
According to The World Counts, in 2020, the United Nations estimated approximately 385.000 babies are born each day worldwide. That is roughly said 140 million babies a year.
Let’s check out some more statistics about how many babies are born each day worldwide and how many babies are born each minute and second:
Now that we have seen some information about the USA and the rest of the world, let’s shift our focus to Europe a bit, shall we?
Source: (Office for National Statistics) (Statista) (Springer) (The Motherload) (Statista)
There were 712.68 live births in the UK in 2019.
According to the Office for National Statistics:
Considering there were 604.707 deaths registered in the UK in 2019, which denotes a decrease of somewhat 2% from the 616.014 recorded in 2018 and going a bit further into 2017 (607,172). —we can safely assume the mortality rate in the UK to be increasing while the natality rate is decreasing.
In 2015, more babies were born in late September and the beginning of October in the UK than any other month of the year.
Sources: (The Independent) (Chronicle Live) (Office of National Statistics)
According to the latest analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS):
The most common birthday in England and Wales was September 26th, almost 9 months after Christmas Day.
Look at it this way: if we were to distribute births equally around the year, the average indicates 1800 births per month, but in September, the average was 2000.
In 2020, there were 4.3 births every second worldwide.
Sources: (Wikipedia/Birth Rate) (The World Counts) (Indexmundi)
According to data published on Wikipedia, the average birth rate in 2016 was 18.5 births by a thousand total population, whereas the average birth rate on a global level in 2012 was 19.611 births.
Further data from Index Mundi, on the other hand, indicates the crude birth rate in 2020 was 18.21 births per thousand population or 259 births globally per minute. That is an amazing 4.3 births every second!
The 24th and 25th of December are the rarest birthdays worldwide.
Sources: (Parents) (World Atlas) (Best Life) (The Conversation) (Zippia)
Check out these figures to see which are the world’s rarest birthdays and if yours is one of them.
The rarest birthdays worldwide in 2020, according to the magazine Parents, are the following:
How about yours? Do you have an idea how common your birthday is?
The ninth month of the year (September) is the most common month for giving birth worldwide.
Sources: (World Atlas) (Mental Floss)
As mentioned above, September seems to be a busy month for parents around the world, since they are bringing home the most precious of all—their babies.
Research by World Atlas (2019) pointed out the following:
The people born in September are the smartest ones.
Sources: (Travel + Leisure ) (Marie Claire) (NBER) (Good To)
A research carried out by several universities, the University of Toronto, The University of Florida, and Northwestern University in Illinois, included slightly over one million school children in the USA to determine which month produces the smartest people.
The comprehensive study found that those born in September had a higher grade on average than those born in other months.
The 30 most wealthy people in the world were born in June.
Sources: (Investopedia) (lovemoney)
What is extraordinary about the most wealthy of people worldwide is the mere fact they were all born in June. Regardless of whether they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth or perhaps worked hard to get to the top, these are the wealthiest people in the world:
Source: (Data For Impact Project)
The total fertility rate is defined as the number of children born in a specific year that would be born by a woman if she lived out her child-bearing years in their entirety and if she gave birth to children according to her age (the accepted age-specific fertility rates).
Now let’s see some more information about fertility rate and birth rate and further support it with numbers.
In 2017, Niger was the country with the highest fertility rate, with almost 7 children per woman.
Sources: (Statista) (World Bank) (PRB)
A survey by Statista (2017) on fertility rate by country showed that:
Source: (Population Education) (Empowered Women’s Health)
Having information about the total fertility rate and mortality and migration estimations helps us predict how the population might develop in the future.
Let’s see some interesting facts provided by Population Education about the factors that affect the total fertility rate:
Access to Voluntary Family Planning
Family planning lets women have overall control over how many children they have and deciding when they will have them. For instance, back in 2019, forty-four percent of women of childbearing age worldwide have been using a more contemporary method of contraception, thus taking control of the number of children they’ll have.
Government Acts and Policies
Certain governments have implemented acts to slow down population growth, and many countries have even succeeded in reducing fertility rates. For instance, Iran has reduced fertility rates from seven to two children per woman (1986-2016) with voluntary programs.
No, these two matters have different meanings.
The fertility rate calculates the number of births (of thousand women) of childbearing age (15-44) that are happening in a specific year.
On the other hand, birth rates take advantage of the same calculation, only within particular age groups.
Singapore was the country with the lowest fertility rate in 2017.
Source: (Statista)
Recent survey statistics by Statista (2017) indicated the fertility rate in Singapore was 0.83 children per woman, or in other words, the lowest fertility rate worldwide.
Source: (CIA.GOV. The World Factbook)
To throw light on things, let’s check out the fertility rate by country (2021), for at least a couple of them:
The fertility rate in Japan – 1.38 children born/woman
India fertility rate – 2.28 children born/woman
US fertility rate – 1.84 children born/woman
UK fertility rate – 1.86 children born/woman
China fertility rate – 1.60 children born/woman
The number of people will mark a fall down to 8.8 billion by the end of the century.
Sources: (BBC) (CNN) (The New York Times)
Yes, the fertility rates are declining.
A BBC report unveils that declining fertility rates will cause a significant loss in population in nearly every country there is, by the end of the century.
Let’s see some of the numbers that point out this happening:
Around 10-15 in a hundred pregnancies end in miscarriage.
Sources: (March Of Dimes) (NHS)
How common are miscarriages?
Let’s look at the numbers curated by the National Health Security (2018):
Furthermore, according to March Of Dimes (2017):
The cause of miscarriage is usually unknown. But if we put in numbers, it would denote 50-75% of women. However, even after having one miscarriage, 65% of women succeed in having a successful and healthy pregnancy afterward.
In 2017, women aged 15-19 gave birth to 194.377 babies worldwide.
Source: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) (United Nations/World Fertility)
One of the few reasons for teenage pregnancies is single-parent households that lack positive family interaction and parental supervision.
Therefore, let’s see the numbers on teen pregnancy rates given in these teen pregnancy stats.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017):
Let’s see some more facts about teen pregnancy, this time divided into racial groups.
Teen birth recorded a decrease (2016-2017) for most racial groups, Hispanics as well.
The decline of teen birth rates among young people between the age of 15 and 19 are these next ones:
The fertility rate among young adults between ages 15 and 19 in thirty-four countries around the world was about eighty births per thousand young women in the period between 2015 and 2020. Another piece of information is that among the thirty-four countries, twenty-nine were African.
There are eighty-five million (over 40 percent) unplanned pregnancies worldwide.
Sources: (Unplanned Pregnancy) (Guttmacher) (ASPIVIX) (Guttmacher/Unintended pregnancies in the USA) (The Lancet)
Here are some statistics on unplanned pregnancies:
What is the proportion of unplanned pregnancies in the US?
Let’s see the percentage of unplanned pregnancies according to Guttmacher:
Furthermore, let’s see some stats on unplanned pregnancies in the world:
The reasons for unplanned pregnancy can be assigned to 3 major factors:
The standard and most common contraception are 90 to 99% effective, provided it is used properly. Condoms have shown a 98 percent guaranteed protection, while the birth control pill assures 99.7% effectiveness.
Source: (Foreigner.fi) (YLE.fi)
The THL in 2020 revealed the average age of giving birth had seen an increase in all the Nordic countries:
The Scandic average birth age is almost the same as other European women (around 31years old).The average age for giving birth – 30.8.
Yet, here’s a further comparison against other European countries:
In the United States (2018), the legal age at which women gave birth to their 1st child was around 27.
Sources: (Wikipedia/Advanced Maternal Age) (National Center for Family & Marriage Research) (MarketWatch)
Data published in 2018 by the National Center for Family and Marriage Research revealed the average age of women having their first child in the US was twenty-one (1970). Nonetheless, further data indicated for that number to have made a rise to 26.9 (2018).
On the other hand, Stanford University research in 2017 stated the average age of a first child for males in the US had made an increase to 31 years of age from 27.
The average birth age for a first child among the European Union countries climbed up from 28.7 in 2013 to 29.1 in 2017.
Sources: (Eurostat) (Healthline) (BloomLife)
In research by Eurostat in 2019, we found out that:
Additionally, the Member States with women having their first child and older age in 2017 were:
According to a Health Line report, the best age to have a baby for a woman is when she is at the beginning of her twenties or early thirties. Thus, the best age to have a baby biologically is a factor that puts the mother and the child above all, i.e. the best outcomes for both of them. The ideal age to give birth for the first time is when the mother is more or less thirty years old, although age is not the only factor to consider when having a baby.
On the other hand, the average age of a mother at last birth ranges between 39 and 42. Another thing worthy of mention is that a woman’s last successful pregnancy is believed to occur between the age of 38-41.
In the period between 2000-2014, the average age for a first birth increased by more than a year for all races, Hispanic group origins too.
Sources: (National Center for Health Statistics) (National Center for Health Statistic/Data Briefs)
Is there a difference in the average age between first-time moms by race and Hispanic origin?
According to research by NCHS Data Brief in 2016, the mean age at first birth grew higher for all race and Hispanic origin groups (2000-2014).
Let’s see some numbers that provide further elaborations:
On the other hand, the mean age for first births was lower than the average among:
In 2017 the number of abortions performed in the USA was exactly 862.000.
Sources: (Guttmacher) (Statista) (Live Action) (Statista/Abortion in the United States)
In the six years (2011-2017), there had been changes in the USA regarding abortions.
Let’s have a look at the following stats that further elaborate the above-mentioned:
In the period between 2011 and 2017, there were many restrictions regarding abortions, which significantly influenced the numbers. In those years, thirty-two states have put into action a total of 394 new restrictions.
Let’s have a look at some abortion statistics from 2020. According to Statista survey, in May 2019:
There have always been differences in opinions when it comes to abortions. Despite that, thousands of women in the USA have abortions each year. To support this with numbers, in 2016, there were about 623 thousand abortions made legally, which is lower than the years before.
It is humane that people, in this case, women, get to choose what to do with their bodies.
In the USA, abortion was legalized on the 22nd of January, 1973.
Sources: (NHS Digital 2019) (BBC) (PubMed) (U.S. News) (NHS Digital)
How common is an emergency C-section?
Let’s look at some numbers about emergency C-sections by country.
The following information is curated from a report on NHS-funded maternity services in England for March 2019, using data submitted to the Maternity Services Data Set. It refers to emergency C-sections in England:
Of all the recorded births in England in 2018:
Furthermore, the BBC’s research in Scotland in 2019, revealed 28.4% of the mothers who attempted vaginal birth at first, still ended having an emergency C-section.
The following data is from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. The participants were women who had their first child between the age of 18 and 38, in the period from 1996-2012:
According to US news in 2019, almost one-third of childbirths were C-sections:
In 2019, Mississippi, with 38.3%, had the most C-sections.
Sources: (Statista) (National Center for Health Statistic/Mississippi) (CDC/Cesarean Delivery Rate by State)
According to the NCHS, in 2019, the state with the most C-section deliveries was Mississippi, with 38.3% of all live births being C-sections.
In 2018, about seventy percent of doctors performed C-sections because of the fear of being sued.
Source: (The Daily Mail) (The Atlantic) (Health Line)
Why do doctors prefer c-sections?
Well, this is an interesting question. Doctors think C-sections are safer, less messy than vaginal births, and reduce the number of complications during the delivery. In addition to this, when performing C-sections, doctors also get paid more, on average, 15% more than when performing natural births.
Natural vs C-section birth statistics
Sources: (Health Line) (NPR)
How often do women give birth naturally? How often is it a C-section?
According to Health Line:
The information curated from NPR about a study from The World Health Organization suggests that the optimal rate probably depends on the location:
Across the region of Africa, the C-section rate has been almost constant in the last twenty years (since 2000), with a slight change of 5% altogether.
Over 70% of women received epidural worldwide.
Sources: (All About Women MD) (Stanford Medicine) (Parents) (Statista) (NCBI)
According to the National Institutes of Health report, since 1997, epidurals have become more commonly used with the rise of C-section deliveries – which had risen by 72%.
Additionally, the CDC conducted a study in 2008, revealing that:
Furthermore, let’s check out some statistics about natural birth in the US:
Sources: (Statista) (Live Science)
In 2011, identical twins were born at an almost constant rate of 3.5 to 4 per thousand births globally.
How many twins are there in the world? How common are twins? Let’s see some facts about identical twins and non-identical twins.
According to Statista, in 2019, since 1980, the U.S. birth rate for twins has risen significantly.
Let’s have a look at these stats and facts:
The twin birth rate in America marked a decrease by four percent between 2014-2018.
Source: (The Washington Post) (National Center for Statistics/Data Briefs) (CDC)
A report released by the NCHS indicated the twin birth rate in the USA decreased in the period from 2014 to 2018—after three decades of increase.
In the 23 years (1980 and 2003), the twin birth rate has risen by 2%, 18.9 twins per thousand deliveries. On the other hand, this rising number slowed down a bit to less than 1% per year between 2003 and 2014.
Nearly 70% of conjoined twins are female.
Sources: (Asking Lot) (CNN) (9news)
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center in 2012, in 200.000 twin births given globally, one is conjoined:
Most of the conjoined twin births happened in Southwest Asia or Africa. Although even there, it is quite infrequent. A rough estimation on this matter showed that this occurs once in 49.000 to once in 189.000 births.
Sources: (Guinness World Records) (Wikipedia/Multiple Birth) (Parents) (The Conversation) (Extra.ie)
Let’s answer the most commonly asked questions about twins:
1) What is the longest gap between twins?
From Ireland, Amy Ann and Kate Marie were 87 days apart—Thus, this is the longest gap between a set of twins being born.
2) What is the shortest time between twins?
Amanda D. from Canada takes away the world record by giving birth to Emanuelle and Elodie on April 6, 2017. The gap between the two births was a staggering 22.976 seconds – making it the shortest time between twins.
3) How common are quadruplets?
Quadruplets are not very common. Twins or triplets are more likely to happen, rather than quadruplets. In 2007, there were about 3.500 quadruplet sets recorded globally.
4) What is the average twin birth weight?
The average birth weight of twins born in the ninth month of pregnancy is two and a half kilograms. However, one of the babies is always heavier than the other.
5) How rare are non-identical twins?
The rates of non-identical twins are not consistent among different groups:
Source: (Twins Magazine) (Health Line)
Let’s see some fraternal twins vs identical twins statistics curated from Twins Magazine in 2020:
In the USA, there are more groups with significant differences. Let’s check them out:
In the USA, Massachusetts and Connecticut have seen the highest ever percentage of twins, 25% more high than the U.S. rate. Whereas Nebraska and New Jersey had 2x the national level of triplets and higher births.
The infant mortality rate definition is the number of deaths (those who didn’t have the chance to live for a full year) for every thousand live births.
Let’s see some statistics divided into a couple of categories to determine the infant mortality rate in different parts of the world.
Source: (Embryology) (Statista)
Angola had the highest infant mortality rate with 175.9 deaths per 1000 live births (2011).
Statista’s survey from 2017 revealed some shocking numbers related to the infant mortality rate in 20 countries worldwide. Let’s have a look at the countries at the top of that list:
Now, let’s see the statistics on World infant mortality in 2011, curated from Embryology:
In 2009, about 3.3 million newborns died in their first month.
In 1990, there were more than four million neonatal deaths, and most of them took place among the following countries:
Source: (CDC/Reproductive Health) (Statista) (CDC/Data Brief)
In America, the IMR was 5.6 deaths per thousand live births (2019).
Further data from the CDC on the infant mortality rate of the United States for 2018 revealed:
Source: (Reuters) (Science Daily)
In some European and Scandinavian countries, the infant mortality rate for full-term babies was lower by 50-200% than in the USA.
Therefore, it’s worth mentioning that out of five thousand full-term births, eleven babies died before the age of one, according to a report in PLoS Medicine.
Sources: (Statista) (Statista/India) (Knoema) (Knoema/China)
What is the infant mortality rate (IMR) in some countries around the world?
Let’s find out:
This article gave you a good and in-depth view of many aspects of the population – GLOBALLY.
Now you are aware of just how many babies are getting born each day, you have heard about the fertility rate and the infant mortality rate. We have learned about some amazing twins statistics, we have also learned the most common and the least common months for giving birth, and many more things of interest are.
Source: (Quora) (Historic UK)
The answer to this question is quite simple. No, there isn’t such a day since there are too many people on the planet.
There isn’t a global record for this, but in England and Wales, there were 11 days when no births were recorded. Starting from September 2nd to September 14th, 1752. Although I doubt it’s been recorded, nonetheless, there must have been births in the world or that region at the very least.