World Population Day 2021: Know history, significance here

New Delhi: As the world observes Population Day on July 11 every year, it reminds itself of the challenges faced globally due to overpopulation. The alarming trend shows that after hundreds of thousands of years the population reached 1 billion, and then in just another 200 years, it grew sevenfold, as per United Nations. 

The worldwide population reached the 7 billion mark in 2011, and today it has climbed to about 7.7 billion. It is expected to grow to nearly 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100, the worrying UN trend shows. 

History:

July 11 marks World Population Day when people remind themselves of the hazards of overpopulation and raise awareness about how overpopulation can harm ecosystems and hamper progress of humanity. The United Nations Development Programme’s Governing Council created World Population Day in 1989. On July 11, 1987, the population day witnessed the Five Billion Day, or the estimated day when the world’s population surged above five billion people. Further, the day was commemorated by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1990 with Resolution 45/26.

The topics of discussion on the day include family planning, poverty, sexual equality, maternal health, civil rights, among others. 

The theme this year for World Population Day- Rights and choices are the answer: Whether baby boom or bust, the solution to shifting fertility rates lies in prioritizing the reproductive health and rights of all people. 

India has the world’s second-largest population after China. While China contributes to 18.47 % of the world’s share, India is not far behind with 17.70 % share of the global population. Following India, the United States has a share of 4.25 % of the entire world population, according to data by Worldometer. 

Why has the population grown so dramatically?

As UN states, the growth in populace 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 accelerating migration'. It warns that these trends will have far-reaching implications for generations to come.

In order to overcome the problem of overpopulation, the focus must be on population management on a worldwide scale. 

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