NEW YORK: Pakistan is the riskiest country to be born in, with one in 22 babies born die before they turn one month old, according to a UNICEF report released on Tuesday.
India’s neonatal mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births) is 25.4, which ranks it at 12 among 52 “lower-middle-income countries” in terms of risk for newborns. Pakistan is thus far behind India and other less prosperous neighbours.
In the same ‘lower middle-income’ countries group as Pakistan and India, Sri Lanka has the lowest neonatal mortality rate of 5.2, which is comparable with high-income countries. Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan are also ahead of Pakistan and Indian neonatal survival.
The safest nation for birth on the list is Japan, where less than one in 1,000 babies dies by the time they complete a month.
Worldwide, 2.6 million babies die within a month of birth every year, an average of 7,000 deaths every day.