World Population Day 2024 is today, July 11

World Population Day is July 11

Today is World Population Day, observed on July 11 every year since 1990. The United Nations Population Fund organizes it, with the goal of raising awareness of global population issues. And the 2024 event comes less than two years after November 2022, when, according to various estimates, the world population reached 8 billion. The U.N. describes World Population Day as:

… a moment for all of us to commit to doing more to ensure that our data systems capture the full range of human diversity so that everyone is seen, can exercise their human rights and can reach their full potential.

According to Worldometer, the current population of Earth is 8.1 billion. Previously, China had long held the title of most populous nation, but sometime in 2023, India overtook China. Now, India currently has a population around 1.44 billion, with China’s population around 1.42 billion.

The 2024 theme of World Population Day is: “To leave no one behind, count everyone.”

?? This #WorldPopulationDay, let's embrace the power of data! Reliable data is key to understanding population dynamics and shaping policies that promote health, equality, and sustainable development. Together, we can build a brighter future for all. #DataForDevelopment #UNFPA pic.twitter.com/qBk3gG9AZP

— UNFPALesotho (@UNFPA_LSO) July 4, 2024

Using data to count everyone

The U.N. explained:

Over the past three decades, societies around the world have made remarkable progress in improving population data gathering, analysis and use. New population figures, disaggregated by age, ethnicity, gender and other factors, now reflect the diversity of our societies more accurately.

World Population Day 2024 is a moment to ask who is still going uncounted – and why – and what this costs individuals, societies and our global efforts to leave no one behind.

From the 2024 State of the World Population Report:

The future of population data

A safe digital future

Women play a critical role

In recent decades, multiple studies have suggested that women play a key role in stabilizing population growth. Indeed, the education of women, and falling growth rates, appear to go hand in hand. But, in much of the world, women still do not have the right of equal education to men, and do not have the right of control over their own bodies. The UN offers these statistics:

– More than 40% of women around the world cannot make decisions on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

– As few as one in four women across low- and middle income countries are realizing their desired fertility.

– A woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth (and in conflict settings, the number of deaths is twice as high).

– Nearly 1/3 of women have experienced intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence or both.

– Just six countries have 50% or more women in parliament.

– More than 2/3 of the 800 million people globally who cannot read are women.

With this in mind, the U.N. pointed to studies suggesting that, when women and girls are empowered by societies to exert autonomy over their lives and bodies, they and their families thrive. For illustrations of this idea, check out the UNFPA 2024 State of World Population report and the studies that follow.

From the World Bank: Female education and childbearing: A closer look at the data

From the European Union: Educating all girls is key for global population size

And from Frontiers in Public Health: Is educating girls the best investment for South Asia? Association between female education and fertility choices in South Asia: A systematic review of the literature

How World Population Day began

The Indian scholar K.C. Zachariah proposed a World Population Day. Zachariah was a senior demographer for the World Bank. He died in early 2023 at age 98.

Initially, World Population Day stemmed from public interest in 5 Billion Day, the approximate date on which global population reached 5 billion people, on July 11, 1987. Later, the first official World Population Day was July 11, 1990. More than 90 countries observed the day, overall. From then on, in partnership with governments and civil societies, a number of United Nations Population Fund country offices and other organizations and institutions commemorate World Population Day.

Bottom line: World Population Day is an annual event, organized by the United Nations and observed on July 11 every year.