World Population Day – 11th of July every year

Today, 11th July has been recognized as World Population Day and the main significance of this day is to draw attention to the alarming global population issues. Among the 195 countries in the entire world, China tops the list recording the highest population and further India stands in the second position.

The day was established by the United Nations Development Programme in 1989 and was suggested by Dr. K.C.Zachariah in which the population reaches Five Billion when he worked as Sr Demographer at World Bank. On this day one should not only seek to raise awareness about the world population but also gives importance to issues like family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, and human rights.

The increasing population has always been a matter of concern. At the beginning of the 1800s, the recorded population was 1 billion. Then, at the beginning of the 2000s, the population recorded was around 6 billion. As of 2019, the world population recorded is 767.35 Crores. The massive rate at which the population is increasing is very distressing. With the increase in the number of human beings, the resources to sustain human life has come to a downfall. The natural resources available are limited while their consumption is increasing every year. If this continues increasing at the same rate, the day isn’t away when everyone here would be doomed.

Individuals always advocate through words and suggest the required steps to be taken to control the increasing population but very few carry out various programs at their institution or organizational levels to make people aware of the consequences this would lead to us if not controlled. In India, most of the remote area’s population aren’t even aware of basic human rights, educating them about various policies and family planning strategies can turn out to be beneficial. If we get a close look at the stats in India, the birth rate is increasing rapidly stating 51 births each min(as of 2020) and death rates decreasing comparatively to around 19 deaths each min(as of 2020). Taking this into consideration, reproductive health of woman is a matter of concern too. Maternal health affects adversely due to multiple rebirths and if one’s sexually active with multiple partners makes her more vulnerable to deadly diseases like vaginal and cervical cancer.

While the media/ press only surges on the count of the world population, leaders, small organizations, institutions should hold hands together to create and spread awareness about reproductive health issues and advocate their voices for the basic human rights of every individual. It’s also my request to the government to come forward with effective policies and schemes to control the population. And the concern is so widespread that the results won’t show up immediately, everyone has to be patient whilst these measures become effective. But if not controlled now, human life should get prepared for some adverse repercussions.