11 July 2017: World Population Day

World Population Day is celebrated annually on 11 July.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) established the special day due to the global interest in the 'Day of 5 Billion' on 11 July 1987.

By 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. World Population Day was first marked on 11 July 1990 in more than 90 countries. Since then, a number of UNFPA country offices and other organizations and institutions commemorate World Population Day, in partnership with governments and civil society organizations.

The theme of World Population Day for 2017 is “Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations.”

This year's celebrations coincide with the UNFPA Family Planning Summit, the second meeting of the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) initiative, which aims to expand access to voluntary family planning to 120 million additional women by 2020.

Access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. It is also central to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and is a key factor in reducing poverty. Yet around the world, about 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning methods, for reasons ranging from lack of access to information or services to lack of support from their partners or communities. Most of these women live in 69 of the poorest countries across the globe.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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