World Population Day 2022 every year it is celebrated all over the world to discuss about the increasing population and its consequences. The world population has reached 8 billion this year. Along with the increasing population, issues like poverty, inequality, gender discrimination and climate change are also a cause of concern.
It has become very necessary that attention should also be paid to the increasing population and other related issues. To control the growing population, a population control law is being considered in the country. On this World Population Day, let us know what provisions have been made in the population control law, how the general public will benefit from it.
What is Population Control Law?
According to the United Nations report, more than 1.4 billion people live in India. This number makes India the second most populous country in the world. The Population Control Bill of 2019 states that every couple will adopt a two-child policy, that is, not more than two children. However, it was withdrawn in 2022. The objective of this policy was to encourage adoption through educational benefits, free healthcare, better employment opportunities, home loans and tax cuts.
What does the constitution say?
Article 22 of the 1969 Declaration on Social Progress and Development ensures that couples have the freedom to decide how many children they have. Controlling the number of children violates constitutional rights like Article 16 i.e. participation in public employment and Article 21 i.e. protection of life and liberty.
How an older population will impact society?
A rapidly ageing population means that there are fewer working-age people in the economy. As a result, there are supply shortages of workers who are qualified to perform given tasks, which can affect businesses negatively. There can be a potential decline in productivity, higher labour costs, delayed business expansion and reduced international
The Significance of World Population Day
The governing council of the United Nations Development Programme established World Population Day in 1989. On July 11, 1987, the global population reached five billion, and hence the day came to be observed as World Population Day.
In December 1990, following resolution 45/216, the United Nations General Assembly decided to continue to observe July 11 as World Population Day. The day intends to create awareness of issues related to the rising population and their consequences on the environment.
Some Interesting Facts of Population Day
Tokyo is the most populated city with 37 million inhabitants
Nepal has the highest population of women at 14,901,169 out of a total population of 29,192,480
New Zealand has 70.3 million sheep while it has 3.18 million people
UN data released in 2018 states that around 250 babies are born every minute across the world
Life expectancy is expected to rise to 77 years between 2045 and 2050
World Population Day: History
With the observance of the Five Billion Day, the day when the world population reached the five billion mark on 11 July, 1987, interest increased in the need for a day to focus on the negative impacts of overpopulation.
The United Nations Development Programme’s Governing Council established the World Population Day in 1989. The day was recognised by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1990 with the passing of resolution 45/26 which aimed to spread awareness about population issues, including the relationship between overpopulation, development and the environment.
By 2022, for the first time ever, the world population is expected to pass the eight billion mark, reaching about 9.2 billion people on 24 September 2022.
The new prediction by the UN says the world’s population will reach the eight billion milestone in 2025, with a total of 8.3 billion people.
The prediction was made at the launch of the 2016 edition of the World Population Data Series (WPDS), which reveals projections of the world’s population into the second quarter of 2022.
John Wilmott, deputy director of the UN Population Division, said that the world’s population is growing by 70 million per year.
“Ten years from now, we will have more than twice as many people than we will have in 2022, but it is worth pointing out that two-thirds of this growth comes from emerging countries,” Wilmott said.
“If you look at just the developing world, population growth has remained very fast, about 150 million per year, resulting in the expansion of an already densely populated world.”