World Population Day 2007

World Population Day is observed on 11 July, inspired by the symbolic Day of Five Billion in 1987. It encourages discussion of demographic change through human rights, health, opportunity and informed personal choice.

World Population Day is observed on 11 July and grew from public attention surrounding the symbolic 'Day of Five Billion' on 11 July 1987, when the world's population was estimated to have reached five billion. The event generated wide discussion about demographic change, and in 1989 the governing council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended an annual World Population Day; the first observance followed in 1990. The day does not treat population simply as a question of how many people live on Earth. Its themes examine reproductive health and rights, maternal health, gender equality, age structures, migration, urbanisation, poverty, data quality and the different challenges faced by countries with rapidly growing, ageing or declining populations. UN agencies, governments and civil-society organisations use the day to discuss how demographic trends affect services and opportunities, while emphasising that population policies should respect people's rights, choices and dignity rather than reducing human lives to statistics.

Promotes informed, rights-based responses to demographic change, reproductive health, equality and access to essential services.

Demographic education, reproductive-health information, gender-equality discussions and analysis of public data; avoid coercive population-control messaging.

Worldwide on 11 July, supported by UNFPA and partners. Countries face different combinations of population growth, ageing, migration and urbanisation.