Since the inception of life on Earth, the struggle and competition of living beings to fulfill their needs for survival has been the primary force behind the evolution and the rapid expansion of organisms all over the world. The Earth, obviously, is a planet with limited resources which limits the number of organisms that are able to survive at a given time. This matter has extended to the human demographic with the lifestyle of Human beings getting more and more complex with time. The struggle to fulfill secondary needs such as quality education, healthcare, Social Security or job security is a brand-new problem the world must face to ensure the longevity of the civilization. This socio-economic phenomenon aka The Population Crisis has played major roles in every social catastrophes in modern history. Understanding the significance of this matter United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) established the World Population Day on 1989 inspired by the wave of public interest that occurred after the news of the World’s population hitting Five Billion on the 11th of July, 1987.
The primary goal of naming such a day is to raise the awareness of the people on population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights. According to verified surveys of the World Bank in 2022, the world’s population was 7.9 Billion while estimations predict that the current population as of July 2024 is 8.1 Billion. At 1960s, it was nearly 3 billion and has been increasing ever since. But in historical context, the population has been growing since 1300s following the end of the Black Death Pandemic. There are a few reasons for this constant growth of population such as the improved agricultural productivity in the early era and also the advancement of health care and rapid industrialization in modern times. The rapid growth we see today has likely occurred due to the latter reasons which is a much much larger rate than the rate before the 18th century. Unfortunately, the infrastructure and resources that are essential to maintain a mass have not been increasing at a similar rate, due to the limitation of resources and irregular spread of the population, as mentioned before. So, it is realized that most of the global events and struggles currently happen, ultimately break down to the controversial root problem of the population crisis.
Rapid population growth, coupled with rising over consumption, significantly contributes to environmental challenges. These include biodiversity decline and climate change, primarily caused by the excessive exploitation of natural resources for human progress. United Nations have concentrated on the issues related to the population crisis in their Sustainable Development Goals. Those international efforts, as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals, aim to enhance global living standards while minimizing society’s impact on the environment and promoting human well-being.
So, this year the UN has declared “Leave no one behind, count everyone” as the theme for World Population Day 2024 considering the oppression and isolation of some subgroups of society from the rest of the world, because of these demographic issues. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commented, “This year’s theme highlights the importance of investing in data collection to understand issues, tailor solutions, and drive progress. Financial investment is also crucial. I urge countries to leverage the Summit of the Future this year to unlock affordable capital for sustainable development.” leaving a question for the public whether the leaders or the policy makers of the world are really concerned about these issues, as they should be.
Written By: Pramodya Karunasekara
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References:
- https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/world-population-day-2024-know-history-significance-and-theme-6080066
- https://www.undp.org/