World Population Day-2017 will be observed today across the country as elsewhere in the world with a call to develop the nation by family planning and empowering people.
The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of global population issues -challenges, and opportunities available to address the same. The day seeks attention and action of the governments, policy-makers, academics, experts, NGOs and individuals.
The theme of the day is Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations aims at providing safe, voluntary family planning.
The world has 7.4 billion people in it, and by 2023 the United Nations predicts there will be more than 8 billion people who call the planet home. In Africa alone, the continent with the highest fertility rate and lowest use of modern contraceptives, 26 countries will double their population by 2050, according to the U.N.
World Population Day is meant to draw attention to the challenges we face with a human population that is constantly growing. Rapid population growth in the poorest countries leads to rapid consumption of natural resources, which makes it difficult for countries to feed themselves and recover from the effects of climate change, such as increased flooding.
The population of the least developed countries grows about 2.4% per year, with a birth rate of 4.3 children per woman. This rate of growth will be unsustainable if the level of consumption in developing countries reaches that of the industrialized world.
In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that 11 July be observed by the international community as World Population Day, a day to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues.
