World Population Day 2023: Date, History, Significance, Theme & Key Details

July 11 is celebrated as World Population Day around the globe.

The day, which seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, was established by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989.

According to the United Nations, it took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to 1 billion – then in just another 200 years or so, it grew sevenfold.

In 2011, the global population reached the 7 billion mark, 8 billion in 2022 and it's expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100.

Here is everything you need to know about World Population Day 2023:

The theme for this year's World Population Day is 'Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities'

As per the UN, women and girls make up 49.7% of the global population, yet they are often ignored in discussions on demographics, with their rights violated in population policies.

"World Population Day gives us an opportunity to highlight the need to advance gender equality to help realize the dreams of all 8 billion of us on our planet," United Nations said.

Dr K.C. Zachariah suggested celebrating this day when the world reached 5 billion population on July 11, 1987.

As mentioned above, it was established by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on 11 July 1987.

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

The Day was first marked on 11 July 1990 in more than 90 countries.

The main objective of this day is to increase individuals' awareness of several issues related to the global population. This includes poverty, gender inequality, family planning, human rights, and maternal health.

• “We all deserve fresh air to breathe, enough land to live and healthy food to eat but this is not possible without controlling our growing population. Warm wishes on World Population Day.”

• “If we want to save this world then we must control the progressive graph of increasing population. Happy World Population Day.”

• “There are limited resources and limited land but then there is population that is growing beyond limits. Happy World Population Day to you.”