World Population Day

World Population Day is observed on July 11th every year. It was established to seek awareness of global population issues. The world population is currently increasing at a rate of about 140 people a minute, which adds up to more than 70 million a year.

World Population Day was recommended in 1989 by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme. According to the UN it was a perfect time to highlight population issues and work to solve them together.

Fast Facts: –

• The Day was first marked on 11th July 1990 in more than 90 countries. Since then many more countries commemorate the day.
• It’s estimated that every second there are 4.3 births and 1.8 deaths which adds up to a net population gain of 2.5 people per second.
• Standing side by side the entire world’s population would fit into 500 square miles which is less than the size of Los Angeles.
• It is predicted by experts that by 2030, the world’s population will reach up to 8.5 billion in total.
• Across the globe today, 1 in 3 children under the age of 5 (about 230 million) have never been officially registered.
• About 1.8 billion people around the world are between the ages of 10 and 24, which is the largest population of young people ever.
• Just because of poor sanitation, a child dies in every 20 seconds.
• In 1900 only 12 cities had a population of more than 1 million. Now there are more than 400 cities with 1 million or more people.