World Population Day

In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that 11th July be observed by the international community as World Population Day, a day to focus attention on the urgency and importance of  population issues.

Current estimates indicate that roughly 83 million people are being added to the world’s population every year. Even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline, the global population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to the medium-variant projection.

Why World Population Day is celebrated

The aim of the celebration is to pay great attention towards the reproductive health problems of the community people as it is the leading cause of the ill health as well as the death of the pregnant women worldwide. The campaign of the World Population Day every year increases the knowledge and skills of the people worldwide towards their reproductive health and family planning.

Through this great awareness celebration, people are encouraged to take part in the event to know about population issues like importance of family planning towards the increasing population, gender equality, maternal and baby health, poverty, human rights, right to health, sexuality education, use of contraceptives and safety measures like condoms, reproductive health, adolescent pregnancy, girl child education, child marriage, sexually transmitted infections, etc.

Sexuality related issues are very necessary to solve among youth, especially those between 15 to 19 years of age. Access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. It is also central to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and is a key factor in reducing poverty. Investments in making family planning available also yields economic and other gains that can propel development forward.

Theme for 2023

This year's World Population Day theme is What women and girls want matters.

Imagine a world where everyone – all 8 billion of us – has a future bursting with promise and potential. Now open your eyes to the current reality that 4 billion women and girls – half of humanity – face discrimination solely based on their gender.

Women and girls make up 49.7 per cent of the global population, yet women and girls are often ignored in discussions on demographics, with their rights violated in population policies. The result is a world that excludes and marginalizes half the population of the planet – a problem that will prevent all of us from experiencing a more prosperous, peaceful and sustainable future.

At the root of this problem is gender inequality. 

This pervasive injustice keeps women and girls out of school, the workforce and leadership positions; limits their agency and ability to make decisions about their health and sexual and reproductive lives; and heightens their vulnerability to violence, harmful practices and preventable maternal death, with a woman dying every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth.

Realizing sexual and reproductive health and rights for all is the foundation for gender equality, dignity and opportunity. Nevertheless, over 40 per cent of women around the world cannot exercise their right to make decisions as fundamental as whether or not to have children. Empowering women and girls, including through education and access to modern contraception, helps to support them in their aspirations — and to chart the path of their own lives.

When women and girls are empowered by societies to exert autonomy over their lives and bodies, they and their families thrive, as the UNFPA 2023 State of World Population report illustrates. The knock-on effect is a better, more inclusive world, equipped to deal with whatever demographic changes and challenges the future holds.

World Population Day gives us an opportunity to highlight the need to advance gender equality to help realize the dreams of all 8 billion of us on our planet. 

This process starts by listening to the voices of women, girls and other marginalized people and introducing laws and policies that enable them to exert their rights and make meaningful choices.

We must advance gender equality to create a more just, resilient and sustainable world. The creativity, ingenuity, resources and power of women and girls are fundamental to addressing demographic and other challenges that threaten our future, including climate change and conflict. Women play a powerful role in advancing consensus and building peace at all levels. Yet just six countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament.

Too often, gendered economic barriers and challenges to women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, including lack of access to contraceptives, prevent women from creating the families they want – representing a violation of their bodily autonomy that threatens our global future. Governments must fortify the rights of women and girls  to ensure a more inclusive and resilient global population. 

Advancing gender equality is a crosscutting solution to many population concerns. In ageing societies that worry about labour productivity, achieving gender parity in the workforce is the most effective way to improve output and income growth. Meanwhile, in countries experiencing rapid population growth, women’s empowerment through education and family planning can bring enormous benefits by way of human capital and inclusive economic growth.

World Population Trends

It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to one billion – then in just another 200 years or so, it grew sevenfold. In 2011, the global population reached the seven billion mark, and in November 2022, it reached eight billion. This dramatic growth has been driven largely by increasing numbers of people surviving to reproductive age, and has been accompanied by major changes in fertility rates, increasing urbanization and large-scale migration. These trends will have far-reaching implications for generations to come.  

The UN’s principal population projection (the medium variant) suggests that the world population will grow to nearly ten billion by the middle of this century, and will level off at around 10.4 billion by the 2080s. However, if fertility declines by less than projected, the world population could exceed twelve billion by the end of the century. 

If fertility falls by more than projected, the world population will still reach nearly nine billion by 2100. 

The recent past has seen enormous changes in fertility rates and life expectancy. In the early 1970s, a woman had on average 4.5 children; by 2021, the average global fertility rate had fallen to 2.3 children per woman. Meanwhile, average global lifespans have risen, from about 64 years in the early 1990s to 71 years in 2021. (Global life expectancy actually declined from 73 years in 2019 due mainly to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

In addition, the world is seeing high levels of urbanization and accelerating migration. The first year in which more people lived in urban than rural areas was 2007, and by 2050 about 68 per cent of the world population will be living in cities.

Objective of celebrations

Some of the objectives of celebrating the world population day are

• It is celebrated to protect and empower youths of both gender like girls and boys.
• To offer them detail knowledge about the sexuality and delay marriages till they become able to understand their responsibilities.
• Educate youths to avoid unwanted pregnancies by using reasonable and youth friendly measures.
• Educate people to remove the gender stereotypes from society.
• Educate them about the pregnancy related illnesses to raise the public awareness about dangers of early childbirth.
• Educate them about STD (sexually transmitted diseases) to get prevented from various infections.
• Make sure about the access of equal primary education to both girls and boys.
• Make sure the easy access of reproductive health services everywhere as part the basic primary health for each couple.

Sources :

1. https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-population-day
2. http://www.unfpa.org/events/world-population-day
3. Family Planning: A Right and a Choice
4. State of World Population 2023