WORLD POPULATION DAY 2020

World Population Day, which seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, was established by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on 11 July 1987.You may not have heard of such a day before but it has been celebrated for almost three decades. 

 

This year's World Population Day calls for global attention to the unfinished business of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. Twenty-five years have passed since that landmark conference, where 179 governments recognized that reproductive health and gender equality are essential for achieving sustainable development.  

Since 1994 the world population has grown by nearly 2.2 billion people. Countries in Africa have shown consistently high population growth which could severely impact their development goals as governments cater to the needs and wants of a growing population. A complex situation arises where the population growth due to development negatively impacts said development goals. This is a contested view however with several arguments against it. 

 

In November, UNFPA, together with the governments of Kenya and Denmark, will be

convening a high-level conference in Nairobi to accelerate efforts to achieve these unmet goals. On World Population Day, advocates from around the world are calling on leaders, policymakers, grassroots organizers, institutions, and others to help make reproductive health and rights a reality for all.

 

As per reports, there were an estimated 7.8 billion people living on Earth as of March 2020, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the number is expected to rise due to unplanned pregnancies. Population size fluctuates at differing rates in differing regions, and Asia is the most populous continent, with China and India together constituting about 36 percent of the world’s population. With such a huge population, problems are bound to arise.

Theme of World Population Day 2020:

 

The theme this year is based on safeguarding the health and rights of women and girls around the world especially during the time of COVID-19 pandemic. A recent United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) research highlighted that if the lockdown continues for 6 months, and there is major disruption to health services, then 47 million women in low and middle-income countries might not have access to modern contraceptives.

 

This would in turn lead to 7 million unintended pregnancies. Apart from that, it could see a rise in gender-based violence, female genital mutilation and child marriages.

 The United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs along with the UNFPA and other agencies of the UN are working towards providing sufficient aid to the vulnerable communities of society especially during these types.

Since a gathering to observe this event cannot take place, “UNFPA aims to raise awareness about the sexual and reproductive health needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls during the pandemic” by sharing statistics and guidelines online in order to provide information and increase general knowledge about these issues.

Written by Rtr. Shashini Perera