Claim: At least 50,000 babies were born in Faisalabad in just ten days in December 2022, the most in any city in Pakistan.
Fact: More than 50,000 childbirths were registered in the Faisalabad division and over 25,000 in the Faisalabad district between 10 and 20 December 2022 as part of a birth registration drive launched by the Punjab government. This included ‘late’ registrations as well.
Fact or Fiction?
On 29 December 2022, the Facebook page Marham claimed that at least 50,000 babies were born in Faisalabad in 10 days in December 2022.
The claim is false. To investigate the claim, Soch Fact Check reached out to Punjab Local Government Deputy Director Nadia Fatima.
“The Punjab government launched a birth registration campaign to register births of newborns to seven year olds across the province between 10 to 20 December 2022,” Fatima told us.
The drive was not just aimed at registering children born during those ten days. She shared that it also included ‘late’ registrations meaning children not registered immediately at birth by their parents.
Fatima clarified that, “More than 50,000 childbirths were registered in Faisalabad division. The division includes four districts of Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Jhang and Chiniot. While more than 25,000 children were registered in Faisalabad district.”
Hence, viral posts falsely claim that 50,000 children were born in Faisalabad within just ten days.
Virality:
The claim was found here, here, here, here, here and here on Facebook.
It was shared on YouTube; here, here, here, here and here.
On Twitter, it was posted here, here, here, here and here.
The claim was also picked up by Daily Times, Dialogue Pakistan, Minute Mirror and defence.pk.
Conclusion: Viral posts wrongly claim that 50,000 babies were born between 10 and 20 December 2022 in Faisalabad. In fact, the estimated figure refers to children registered in the Faisalabad division as part of a birth registration drive launched by the Punjab government, which includes ‘late’ registrations as well.