UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- An estimated 395,072 babies will be born around the world on New Year's Day 2019, with a quarter in South Asia alone, read a statement Tuesday by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

"As the clock strikes midnight, Sydney will greet an estimated 168 babies, followed by 310 in Tokyo, 605 in Beijing, 166 in Madrid and finally, 317 in New York," said UNICEF, adding that Fiji in the Pacific will most likely deliver 2019's first baby.

India, with an addition of nearly 70,000 babies, tops the list of countries with the most births on the New Year's Day, followed by China (nearly 45,000) and Nigeria (about 25,000). The United States will see around 11,000 births.

Over the past three decades, the world has seen "remarkable progress" in child survival, cutting the number of children worldwide who die before their fifth birthday by more than half, according to the statement.

"But there has been slower progress for newborns. Babies dying in the first month account for 47 percent of all deaths among children under five," said UNICEF, adding that around 1 million babies died the day they were born in 2017, and 2.5 million in just their first month of life.

Among those children, most died from preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis and pneumonia, said UNICEF.

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Charlotte Petri Gornitzka urged the international community to invest in training and equipping local health workers in order to boost the survival rate of newborn.