On this planet, we face an abundance of challenges and there seems to be no end to it. Day by day the population is increasing and with it, the world is facing incredibly serious environmental impact. Climate change, freshwater depletion, ocean over-fishing, deforestation, air and water pollution, and other crises of diseases.
Currently, the total number of humans living is around 7,800,000,000 people. This is the population in this world by March 2020. The population of India is equivalent to 17.7% of the total population in the world. To bring focus to this problem of overpopulation every year we celebrate ‘World Population Day’ on July 11. Let's talk about some significance of this day which is why it is celebrated as the most important day across the world.
We like our house as long as it is spacious. When the space crunch begins, the same house begins to be suffocating for us. As a result, the brunt is borne by mother earth and the forests. That’s the reason we celebrate this day. This event was first suggested by Dr. K.C.Zachariah. He was the demographer at the world bank. It was that time when the population crossed the five billion mark in 1987.
So, in December 1990, the governing council UNDP (United Nations Development Program) decided to mark this day to celebrate as the ‘World Population Day’ every year on 11 July and decided to observe World Population Day by adopting the resolution 45/216 to enhance awareness of population issues.
On this World Population Day spread awareness of maintaining the proper balance between the availability of natural resources and human population growth. It also aims to increase people’s awareness of various population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, and human rights, and also the health issues faced by childbearing women. It is estimated that the population will rise to nine billion in the coming years. This day is celebrated in more than 90 countries, by organizing different-different programs.
Since then, only the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) encourages governments, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and institutions, and organizes various educational activities to celebrate the annual event.
Every year there are different themes and slogans to celebrate this occasion. This year the theme of World Population Day 2021 is "Rights and Choices are the answer: Whether baby boom or bust, the solution to shifting fertility rates lies in prioritizing the reproductive health and rights of all people."
In this 21st century still millions of women, globally, do not have access to safe and effective family planning methods. This is the reason this day is celebrated on this large scale to increase the awareness of the people. Everyone has the right plan for a safe and effective family. This is also a key factor in reducing poverty. The increasing population is also the main reason for poverty.
This day is celebrated differently in different countries. Mostly all the offices of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) across the country celebrate this day. This day is celebrated by making posters, writing essays, slogan writing and many countries celebrate this day by organizing sports concerts.
World Population:
In 2011, the world crossed 7 million marks. To mark the 7 million, UNFPA launched an awareness program to tell people what all problems and challenges they are going to face in the future.
In 2011, the world population reached 7 billion, and today, it stands at about 7.7 billion, it's expected that it will grow to 8.5 billion in 2030, by 2050 it will be about 9.7 billion, and by 2100 it is expected to reach about 10.9 billion.
In the recent past, we have seen enormous changes in fertility rates and life expectancy. In the early 1970s, women had on average 4.5 children each; by 2015, but now the total fertility for the world had fallen to below 2.5 children per woman.
It is time to act and act strongly to control the growth of the population to help our coming generation by creating resources for them.
China first enforced a one-child policy then they enforced two-child policies, to control its population over the four past decades. But now it seems like China is going to change its policy as in last week of May China announced that it will allow couples to have a third child, as in China there are more people in the 60 plus age group. That's the biggest reason the Chinese government allowed people to have three children.
On the other hand, India also wants to implement this two-child norm. Two years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about this in his Independence Day speech. The current population of India is 1,393,531,257 as of July 2, 2021.
In India, according to the UNFPA’s India Ageing Report 2017, depicts the population over the age of 60 is to increase from 8% in 2015 to 19% in 2050.
In India, around 12 States have introduced the two-child norm. These states are Rajasthan (1992), Odisha (1993), Haryana (1994), Andhra Pradesh (1994), Himachal Pradesh (2000), Madhya Pradesh (2000), Chhattisgarh (2000), Uttarakhand (2002), Maharashtra (2003), Gujarat (2005), Bihar (2007) and Assam (2017). Uttar Pradesh is also going to take a major decision on this norm very soon.
These states have introduced this policy, but they have to keep an eye on whether this rule is being followed by the citizens of India or not. If we want to control the population, we have to be serious.
India has the second-largest population in the world after China, and considering the current days of the Covid-19 pandemic, India is handling this virus in such a huge population.
It is said by UN world population prospects 2019 that by 2027, India is expected to overtake China to become the most populous country.
Due to this population, it is also a big issue to ponder on how to control this COVID-19 virus. Many countries like the United States of America, France, Russia, Britain, are also facing this problem. But we are larger in number according to population. Still, we are trying to fight against this virus.
Now also we should understand that in upcoming years the population will become the biggest issue for this world. In every aspect, it will affect people’s livelihood.
While writing this article, the population may have increased because almost every minute, there is a baby born somewhere in the world. This is the reason we celebrate “World Population Day", Stop overpopulation, take care of the children you already have, don’t increase the population.
(Input-WHO)
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