Baby #8 billion: Manila marks world population milestone

Calling someone “one in a million” just doesn’t have the same strength that it used to. The world population has now hit eight billion people. And who is the lucky eight billionth person? It’s hard to say exactly, but a newborn baby girl in Manila has been chosen as the eight billionth global citizen for this new population milestone.

Vinice Mabansag was born at 1.29am at Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Tondo, Manila. Reporting in Coconuts did not elaborate on who declared the eight millionth baby or how that distinction was determined. But a little knowledge of the government-run hospital where she was born gives a hint.

While last year the top 20 countries with the highest growth rate were all in Africa, from 1960 to 2021, the population in the Philippines exploded from about 26 million people to about 111 million people. Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in the nation’s capital is famously the busiest maternity facility on the planet, with an average of 60 to 80 babies born there every day. That statistic makes it the perfect location to declare a new milestone in world population growth.

The designated baby was born early in the morning on the day that the United Nations predicted that the global population would surpass eight billion. The UN noted that the world population hit seven billion just 12 years ago.

“This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries.”

The overall growth rate in the world is slowing though, with officials predicting it will take another 15 years before the global population hits nine billion, around the year 2037. The rapid world population growth raises concerns about the sustainability of human life on an increasingly crowded planet with resources being consumed at higher and higher rates.

But for baby Vinice, those thoughts were shelved as a small celebration was held to designate her the eight billionth person on planet Earth. The newborn was met by representatives from the Commission on Population and Development in the Philippines. The chief medical professional staff at the hospital gave a quote for the local media.

“We just witnessed the world’s eighth billionth baby in the Philippines. So we waited around two hours starting 11pm last night and the baby was delivered at around 1.29am, normal spontaneous delivery.”

Welcome to the world baby Vinice; you are truly one in eight billion.