World Population Day is a UN initiative that is celebrated each year on July 11th. The Earth’s population reached the number of five billion people on the 11th July 1987. The aim of this day is to spread awareness of increasing population of the Earth and the importance of reproductive health.  For the first time, this day was celebrated in 1989,  and its aim was to increase public awareness about growing population. By the resolution 45/216 of December 1990 the UN General Assembly decided to continue celebration the World Population Day in order to raise awareness about population issues, including their relationship with the environment.

The World Population Day focuses on the importance of controlling the growth of the world’s population. By celebrating the World Population Day, the UN is trying to bring information about the problems of the population to the people. Those population issues include family planning, human rights, the right to health care, child health, gender equality, child marriage, the use of contraceptives, sex education, and awareness of sexually transmitted infections.

The next problem is connected with the lack of qualitative sex education, which needs to be introduced for 15-19 years old teenagers in the developing countries. This is due to the fact that 15 million pregnancies in the world are adolescent pregnancies.  4 million of those pregnancies end with abortions due to pregnancy complications or other reproductive health problems. The main problem is the fact that even now in the XXI century millions of women all over the world still do not have access to safe and effective family planning methods. The UN initiative aims to raise awareness of developing countries population with reproductive health issues.

The basic right of a person is safe and effective family planning.  It must be a voluntary choice to create a family or not. It is a key point for the gender equality and empowerment of women. Moreover, proper family planning is a key factor in reducing poverty.

Here are some interesting facts about the overpopulation of the planet:

– every year, the world population is growing by 83 million people. The world population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100;

– of the 7.4 billion people in the world – 1.327 billion are citizens of India, that is 17.5% of the world’s population;

– it is estimated that 30% of the population was born due to unwanted and accidental pregnancies;

– every day 800 women die due to pregnancy complications, 20% of them are women from India;

– by 2020 India is expected to become the youngest country in the world, with 64% of working population, despite job-related problems.

If you are interested in the topic, you may read more information on the UN website.