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I am one of 4 million babies who will be born in the U.S. in 2012
China will be home to 16 million new babies this year
I can expect to live 81.3 years--until 2093!
(American boys born in 2012 have a life expectancy of 76.2 years--five years less than girls)
An Indian girl born today can expect to live to 66
My parents can expect to spend about $150,000 on my in-state tuition at a public U.S. college or $500,000 for four years at a private college (before financial aid, loans and scholarships)
But if I'd been born in Germany, my university education would probably be free
If I finish college, I can expect to get married at about age 30.
I'll get married a few years earlier--at age 26--if I don't earn a college degree
A Brazilian girl born in 2012 has a 25% chance of marrying before age 18
By age 40, I'll be making $95,733 a year; by the 2070s, I'll have earned $4,033,688 after working for 40 years
An Indian baby born in 2012 can expect lifetime earnings of $494,241
7.6% of Chinese babies will grow up to be obese
35% of my American peers will be obese in adulthood
There's a 60% chance that I'll live in the suburbs; 28% that I'll live in a city
90% of Brazilian babies born in 2012 will live in an urban area
I'll likely have two babies.
(Women born in the U.S. will give birth to an average of 2.09 children, to be precise)
Nigerian girls born in 2012 will give birth to an average of 4.82 children
I've got a 23% chance that my marriage will end in divorce--and a 41% chance I'll never marry at all
*Actually, my name isn't Sophia, and I wasn't even born in 2012. But Sophia is likely the most popular American baby-girl name of 2012, as projected by expert Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Central Statistical Organisation, India; CIA World Factbook; Demographic Intelligence; Gallup; Pew Research Center; Social Security Administration; U.N.; UNICEF; U.S. Census Bureau; World Health Organization