Every year, 11th of July is observed as the day to reaffirm the human right to plan for a family. It is celebrated all over the world as ‘World Population Day’, encouraging activities, events and information that help to increase people’s awareness of the factors driving population growth. World Population Day was established in 1989 by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme, inspired by the observation made on world’s population that reached about 5 billion on 11th July 1987. The global population stands at around 7.5 billion today. According to the latest data, India is the second most populous country in the world. India stands at 1.31 billion, just behind China with a population of 1.37 billion. 

This year’s theme for celebrating World Population Day is ‘Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations’ which aims to expand access to voluntary family planning. World Population Day is celebrated to address factors causing overpopulation and spread awareness about population related issues such as the importance of family planning, poverty, maternal health, human rights, empowerment, etc. The day is an international level awareness campaign celebrated all over the world by business groups, community organisations and individuals. The idea is to bring in a population revolution globally combating the major concerns of the world such as unemployment, healthcare, insurance, etc.

On this day events like seminars, discussions and informative educational sessions are conducted around the world. To curb the growing rate of population it is essential to focus attention on important pieces of information such as sexuality, gender equality, birth control, political and economic power to safeguard reproductive rights. Population boom is straining earth’s resources to the breaking point for reasons ranging from lack of information to lack of support from partners or communities. Influential speakers have used striking quotes, slogans and speeches as powerful means to raise awareness about overpopulation.  But it’s time that everyone raises voice against overpopulation making it a team effort. World Population Day should be noticed as a day to find solutions to the terrible outcomes of overpopulation and ways to empower the youth to shape a better world.