Family planning in focus on World Population Day
CELEBRATING WORLD POPULATION DAY
Family planning in focus
World Population Day, which was established by the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, takes place today. The day raises awareness of the negative effects of population increase and encourages nations to address them. This year’s theme is family planning, which includes contraception and female education.
Despite annual growth rates having decreased since 1969, the world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050. Sub-Saharan African nations are set to be a major part of this increase. As infant mortality in these nations decreases, many women still lack resources to effectuate family-level population control.
To curb this, the 2012 London Family Planning Summit set a goal to give 120 million women access to appropriate resources by 2020. Only 25% of that goal has been reached. Cultural barriers, such as many Sub-Saharan Africans viewing contraception immoral, further complicate the issue.
This year’s Family Planning Summit consequently aims to address both structural and cultural factors hindering progress.