Make Population a Strength and a Blessing!

 

World Population Day 2024 / 11 July / Article

Make Population a Strength and a Blessing!

Fr Dr M. D. Thomas

Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi

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World Population Day is observed on the 11th day of July. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. The day was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on 11 July 1987. This is the approximate date on which the population of the world reached five billion people.

 

Raising awareness of the issues related to the global population is the objective of the day. The key issues that gained importance and urgency are family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights.

 

The day was suggested by Dr K. C. Zachariah, who was senior Demographer at World Bank then, on the occasion of the Five Billion Day. He is considered the father of World Population Day. It is estimated that the world population increases by 100 million approximately every 14 months. 15 November 2022 records 8 billion Global population.

 

The World Population Day is observed every year on 11 July in order to raise awareness about the global population issues, including population control. As per the United Nations, the rising population trends affect economic development, employment, income distribution, poverty and social protections.

 

The theme for World Population Day 2023 was ‘Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities’.

 

Awareness about the effects of overpopulation on development and nature is emphasized. The increasing population also sheds light on health problems faced by women during pregnancy and childbirth. This makes the need for family planning, gender equality, and maternal health more important than ever.

 

World Population Day advocates from around the world call on leaders, policymakers, grassroots organizers, institutions and others to help make reproductive health and rights a reality for all.

 

In November 2020, UNFPA, together with the governments of Kenya and Denmark, convened a high-level conference in Nairobi to accelerate efforts to achieve the unmet goals of the World Population Day.


In 1968, the International Conference on Human Rights was held. For the first time ever, family planning was affirmed to be a human right. The Tehran Proclamation, adopted during the conference, states that deciding on the number and spacing of their children is a basic right of parents.

 

Millions of women, globally, are still not given access to safe and effective family planning methods. Safe and effective family planning is a basic human right. It should also be a voluntary choice. Gender equality and women’s empowerment depend on it. It is a key factor in reducing poverty, too.

 

India is the most populated country in the world, China is the second populated country in the world and USA is the third populated country in the world. Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil and Bangladesh are the next five most populated countries in the world. 

 

Earth is in danger of over population. Population has to be controlled and the earth has to be saved. Earth is the only known planet to live. It has to be spacious. Earth is our home. It has to be kept clean, happy and less crowded. Birth control is to be applied in order to get control over the increasing population.

 

A few of the slogans of World Population Day are ‘Be Proud and Control the Crowd’, ‘Happy World Population Day’, ‘Two children, bright future; More children, no future’ and ‘Say no to overpopulation’. A few more slogans are ‘Empowering Choices, Sustainable Future’ and ‘Secure Our World: Embrace Responsible Population Control’.

 

Population Matters: Act Today for Tomorrow. The world can be saved with the efforts of each one of us. Let us control the ever-increasing population together. Make a wish on World Population Day to enjoy a future that is less crowded. Enjoy the future tomorrow by controlling the population today.

 

Population is not a question of quantity, but of quality. It is not the number of persons, but the quality of life that is important. Not only basic needs, but amenities of life are to be available to one and all. Peoples, nations, communities, families and individuals have to belong to each other. The degree of happiness among the peoples governs the welfare and wellbeing of the population. 

 

On the occasion of ‘World Population Day 2024’, let us control population and make population a strength. Let us make population a blessing and not a liability. May quality of being and belonging together be our spirit! Thank you! 

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The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to education, cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, constitutional values, interfaith relations, social ethics, communal harmony, national integration and social wellbeing, for the past nearly 45 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like.

He could be viewed, listened to and contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’ (p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’(p) and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o); social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o), ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’ (p), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’ (p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’ (p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).

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