WORLD Population Day — as designated by the United Nations — is observed on July 11th each year to raise awareness about global population issues. It aims to highlight the importance of sustainable development, reproductive health and family planning. The day was incorporated to encourage discussions on population growth, its impact on resources and the need for equitable access to healthcare and education. Through various initiatives, World Population Day promotes responsible population management, gender equality and empowerment, ultimately striving for a balanced and prosperous future for all. Overpopulation is the root problem of all environmental issues. Thus, there is a dire need to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, including their relations to the environment and human development.
Two prominent population landmarks were reached since the last World Population Day. First, in November 2022, the global population officially hit eight billion people. The global population has increased eight-fold since 1800, from an estimated one billion in 1804 to eight billion in 2022. This growth can largely be attributed to the development of modern medicine and the industrialisation of agriculture which boosted global food supplies, however the world resources are limited and unchecked population growth can have calamitous consequences.
Second, in April this year, according to UN estimates, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country. It may be a matter of pride for India to get its name in the record books but New Delhi is constrained to feed its teeming and hungry millions on a shoestring budget. By 2050, after India and China, Nigeria is expected to become the world’s third most populous nation, followed by the United States, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Bangladesh, in that order. The theme for World Population Day 2023 is “Power of Gender Equality.” This theme underscores the crucial connection between population dynamics and sustainable development of all the genders. It emphasises the need to find a balance between population growth, economic progress and environmental sustainability.
The history of World Population Day dates back to July 11, 1987, when the world population reached five billion people. To mark this milestone, the United Nations established the event to raise awareness about population-related issues and their impact on various aspects of society. Since then, World Population Day has been observed annually, highlighting different themes each year to address specific concerns. Higher population puts more demands on the planet’s limited resources. More people require more food, water, sanitation, homes, public services and amenities — but planet Earth is stressed by the heavy demands to cope. Populations of wild species have plummeted, global temperatures are rising, our seas are full of plastic and forests are disappearing.
The opulent societies of the world consume at astronomical and unsustainable levels. If this persists, it will have ominous consequences. Higher consumption, besides straining the resources, leads to more carbon emissions per year in the developed countries. Addressing how people consume is not enough, however. We are already using the resources of more than one-and-a-half planets. Everyone has the right to a good quality of life and with increasing global affluence, the collective impact of billions more of us will increase even further. This is why we cannot ignore the population. Natural historian and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough — labelled our swarming masses a “plague on the earth”. In this view, nearly every environmental problem we’re currently facing, from climate change to biodiversity loss, water stresses and conflicts over land, can be traced back to our rampant rise in population over the last few centuries.
Thomas Malthus, an English cleric, who propounded the Malthusian Theory, observed that population growth is potentially exponential. According to Malthus, while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, it eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population decline. In his famous work, “An Essay on the Principle of Population”, published in 1798, he began with two important observations — that all people need to eat and they like to fornicate. When taken to their logical conclusion, he explained, these simple facts would eventually lead humanity’s demands to outstrip the planet’s supplies. In other words, large numbers of people lead to even larger numbers of offspring, in a kind of positive feedback loop — but our ability to produce food doesn’t necessarily accelerate in the same way. At the time Malthus’ essay was published, there were 800 million people on the planet.
In the current milieu, a major shift has occurred: There are now more people aged 65 and older than there are under age five. On the flip side, most of the world’s fastest-shrinking populations are located in Europe and East Asia. Low birth rates have prompted governments to roll out a wide range of financial incentives and support to new mothers. In South Korea, for example, new parents are being offered cash payments of $10,500 in an attempt to fend off a looming demographic and economic disaster.
Shrinking and ageing populations pose huge challenges to labour markets and the economy as a whole. Alongside a decline in the number of working-age individuals, significant reforms will be necessary to adapt social services and healthcare systems to accommodate increasingly ageing populations. Population and social development have a close relationship. Planning and preparation to make the society resilient to demographic changes is an important task of every country toward the primary goal of creating a good life for everyone.
World Population Day 2023 serves as a timely reminder of our shared responsibility in shaping the future of our planet. It calls upon individuals, communities and nations to actively participate in creating a sustainable and inclusive world for future generations, where the needs of the present can be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. World Population Day reminds us that population issues are intertwined with other global challenges. Let’s work together to address climate change, food security and access to clean water, ensuring a sustainable future for all.
—The writer is a Retired Group Captain of PAF, who has written several books on China.
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