July 11: World Population Day

In resolution 45/216 of December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly decided to maintain World Population Day to increase awareness of population issues, including their relations to the environment and development.

The Day was celebrated for the first time on July 11, 1990, in more than 90 countries.

This year’s World Population Day aims to unleash the power of gender equality. Despite making up 49.7 percent of the global population, women and girls are often overlooked in demographic discussions.

This widespread injustice keeps women and girls out of school, the labor market, and leadership positions; limits their autonomy and their ability to make decisions about their health and their sexual and reproductive lives; and increases their vulnerability to violence, harmful practices, and preventable maternal death, as a woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth.

Demographic trends

It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to 1 billion, and in just about 200 years more it multiplied by seven.

In 2011, the world population reached the 7 billion mark and in 2021 the figure increased to almost 7.9 billion people. Forecasts suggest 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion in 2100.

This spectacular growth has been driven by the increasing number of people reaching reproductive age, and has been accompanied by significant changes in fertility rates, increasing urbanization, and accelerating migration. These trends will have far-reaching consequences for future generations.

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In the recent past, there have been notable changes in fertility rates and life expectancy. At the beginning of the 1970s, women had an average of 4.5 children each; in 2015, total global fertility had fallen to about 2.5 children per woman. Meanwhile, the average life of a person has increased from 64.6 years at the beginning of the 1990s to 72.6 years in 2019.

Did you know…?

• More than 40% of women around the world cannot make their own decisions regarding sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
• Only one in four women in low- and middle-income countries achieves their desired fertility.
• A woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth, and in conflict situations, the number of deaths is twice as high.
• Almost one-third of women have experienced intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both.
• Only six countries have 50% or more women in Parliament.
• More than two-thirds of the 800 million people worldwide who cannot read are women.