Wednesday, July 11, 2018

World Population Day 2018

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Today is World Population Day, first proclaimed in 1989 by the Council of the United Nations Development Programme, and subsequently voted as Resolution 45/216 by the UN General Assembly, in December 1990.

The theme selected for this year’s celebration, “Family Planning is a Human Right”, reaffirms an idea introduced 50 years ago, during the first UN International Conference on Human Rights, held in Teheran (Iran), in 1968. The idea of “Family planning as a human right”, expressed in 1968 and reaffirmed in 2018, is simply that: 
Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children. [UN Doc, Parag. 16. Teheran (Iran) 1968]
At the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), the UN reproductive health and rights agency, the 2018 World Population day theme celebrating Family planning, specifically means:
 ...to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. [UNFPA mission statement]
For live world population statistics, visit the World Population Clock.
For interactive world population data, visit the UNFPA World Population Dashboard.

A few highlights are included below: 
  • Current world population is 7.6 billion (Worldometers)
  • Approx. 83 million people are added to the world population every year (UNFPA)
  • The world’s global population is estimated to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to UN Population Projections.
  • Maternal deaths: 830 women and girls die in childbirth each day from preventable maternal causes. 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. This figure is down 44% since 1940. (UNFPA)


References
WHO – World Health organization – World Population Day
UN World Population Prospects
UN – World Population Day 2018
http://www.un.org/en/events/populationday/ 
UN General Assembly Resolution 45/216   
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/45/a45r216.htm
UN Proclamation of Teheran, April 22- May 13, 1968.
http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/l2ptichr.htm  
UNFPA – UN Population Fund Agency
UNFPA – Maternal Deaths
UNFPA – Population Dashboard
UNFPA – Population Growth Trends
UNFPA - World at 7 Billion
UNFPA – Statement for World Population Day 2018
Worldometers –World population clock
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

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