World Population Day 2025 takes place today, Friday July 11. This year’s theme is ‘Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world’.

It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world’s human population to reach one billion. It then increased sevenfold in just another 200 years. And while United Nations estimates suggest the planet’s population will peak at 10.3 billion by the end of this current century, many experts and observers believe the figure will be far higher.

World Population Day is a global observance marked annually to raise awareness about global population challenges and their implications for society.

Established by the United Nations in 1989, the idea of World Population Day arose from a recognition of the importance of population-related issues. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) designated this day as an annual event to commemorate the world’s population reaching 5 billion people on July 11, 1987.

The day highlights the pressing need to address the consequences and implications of human population growth, prompting the international community to take action.

This year’s theme, ‘Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world’, focuses on the problem of the largest-ever generation of young people, highlighting the importance of providing young adults with the rights, resources, and opportunities they need to determine their destiny in an increasingly challenging world.

World Population Day is a significant day that serves as a reminder to us all of the need to address the pressing issues surrounding global population growth, to raise awareness, and to encourage discussion around finding solutions.

Submitted by Friends of Retha


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