World Population Day 2021: Know theme, history, significance of this day amid COVID-19 pandemic

Every year on July 11, the world observes Population Day. The initiative was introduced to spread awareness about the importance of population issue worldwide. This year, the theme for World Population Day is "impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on fertility".

The day is marked to raise awareness about the importance of family planning, child marriage, gender equality, human rights, and others.

As per statistics, the world population reached the 7 billion mark in 2011, and it now stands around at 7.7 billion and is expected to grow to nearly 8.5 billion in 2030.

History:

It started with the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989. On July 11, 1987, the population figure had crossed 5 billion. Then it was decided to celebrate it on a global scale to make people aware of the growing population.

Further, the day was commemorated by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1990 with Resolution 45/26.

Significance of World Population Day

The main objective of celebrating World Population Day is to raise awareness on the issues that may arise with the continuous increase in population on the earth. The initiative was introduced to spread awareness about how overpopulation can harm ecosystems and hamper progress of humanity.

On World Population Day, the topics of discussion include family planning, poverty, sexual equality, maternal health, civil rights, among others.