Date: World Population Day is observed on 11 July every year.
Objective: It was established to draw attention of public towards the urgency and importance of global population issues, and promote people’s awareness on the health, development, and environmental impacts of rapid population growth. Population issues include but are not limited to population growth, family planning, marriage and reproduction, maternal health, gender equality, poverty, and human rights.
Inception: World Population Day was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. It was inspired by the public interest in the approximate date on which the world’s population reached five billion people – observed on 11 July 1987. The Day was suggested by Dr. K.C.Zachariah when he worked as Sr Demographer at World Bank.
Sponsor: United Nations
Annual Themes:
2020
This year the theme of the World Population Day is “How to safeguard the health and rights of women and girls”. The focus is on “the sexual and reproductive health needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls.”
2019
In 2019 specific theme was not decided for the World Population Day, but the UN calls for global attention to the unfinished business of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, where 179 governments recognized that reproductive health and gender equality are essential for achieving sustainable development. During 12-14 November 2019, UNFPA, together with the governments of Kenya and Denmark, had convened a summit in Nairobi to accelerate efforts to achieve these unmet goals.
2018
In 2018 the World Population Day focus on the theme “Family Planning is a Human Right”.
2017 theme: “Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations”
2016 theme: “Investing in Teenage Girls”
2015 theme: “Population is dangerous in Emergencies.”
2014 theme: “There is a time to reflect as per the population problems and in young people to get invested in.”
