Just two minutes into the new year, a baby girl popped into the world becoming Malta’s first newborn of 2021. 

The girl was one out of eight babies born on New Year’s Day, said Mater Dei CEO Celia Falzon.

Four girls and four boys were born on Friday.

Last year, Mater Dei saw five newborns: two girls and three boys.

Over 370,000 babies born on New Year’s Day

United Nations children's agency UNICEF estimates that 371,504 babies were born around the world on New Year’s Day this year, with more than half of those births in 10 countries: India, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ethiopia, the United States, Egypt, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Around 140 million children are likely to be born in 2021. 

“The children born today enter a world far different than even a year ago, and a New Year brings a new opportunity to reimagine it,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

“Children born today will inherit the world we begin to build for them - today. Let us make 2021 the year we start to build a fairer, safer, healthier world for children.”