In honor of World Population Day today, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), together with National Geographic, IBM, and SAP, launched the 7 Billion Action Campaign, which will run through October 31 when the world population is expected to exceed 7 billion. The campaign seeks to educate people concerns related to the growing population.
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of UNFPA stated, “Whether we can live together on a healthy planet will depend on the decisions we make now. The date we reach the next billion-and the ones after that-depends on policy and funding decisions made now about maternal and child health care, access to voluntary family planning, girls’ education, and expanded opportunities for women and young people.”
Since 1950, the world’s population has grown from 2.5 billion people to 7 billion, and since 1987, when the first World Population Day took place, the world’s population has grown by approximately 40 percent. According to UNFPA, “all of this population growth – 97 of every 100 people – is occurring in less developed countries” and approximately 215 women who want access to birth control lack access to family planning in developing nations.
See Suzanne Petroni’s article entitled “7 Billion Reasons” in the Summer 2011 issue of Ms. magazine, to be released August 2.
