July 11 is World Population Day. In 1989, the governing council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that this day be observed by the international community as World Population Day.

This year’s World Population Day calls for global attention to be focused on the unfinished business of the 1994 international conference on population and development.

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Twenty-five years have passed since that landmark conference, where 179 governments recognised that reproductive health and gender equality are essential for achieving sustainable development.

The world population edging closer to seven billion people in 2011 (up from 2.5 billion in 1950) has had profound implications for development.

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A world of seven billion is both a challenge and an opportunity, with implications for sustainability, urbanisation, and access to health services and youth empowerment.

Source: www.unfpa.org/events/world-population-day and www.gov.za/WorldPopulationDay2019