Celebration of World Population Day

On 11 July 1987 world observed that it has become 5 billion. World Population Day is an outgrowth of this day. The governing council of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) later recommended that 11th July be observed as World Population Day. The UNFPA began observing this day in 1989 as a means to create awareness on the importance of family planning, maternal health, gender equality, poverty and human rights. As per people’s perception, World Population Day is very important as it is the day for discussing the issues of Population Control and this day is very close to the heart of many people and many government and non-government organizations. UNFPA marked the world of 6 billion in 1999 and the day of 7 billion was on the 31st of October this year. Also India had its this decade Census this year only and the same has taken some historic shape.



This year's theme of world population day is, "Seven billion people counting each other". Seven messages have been developed and these focus on young people, women and girls, poverty reduction, reproductive health, environment, ageing populations and urbanization. The theme is a call for action and an opportunity to engage with people about what it means to live in a world of 7 billion and what they can do to ensure that everyone achieves their present and future potentials.



The theme of 2010 World Population Day was – Everyone Counts. This indicate that our population censuses which are the prime source of data in this respect should be given its due importance as data so generated are to be utilized for developmental planning etc. More reliable is the data provided to the planners, better reliable plans are expected. Better implementation of these plans can shape the face of India for betterment. Thus, all the people of India should participate and help in the census and other data collection efforts of the Government in positive manner.

2001 census count was 1029 million (over one billion). Since 2001, Census count showed that the population’s exponential growth rate had fallen below 2 % after three decades. 2011 Census count is 1210 million (with growth rate of 17.64%). The growth in population in India is having downward trend, but still India is the second most populous country in the world after China. India has 17% of the world’s population and has less than 3% of earth’s land area. While the global population has increased 3 times, India has increased its population 5 times during the last century. India’s population is expected to exceed that of China before 2030 to become the most populous country in the world. India is in the middle of demographic transition. Both fertility and mortality are declining, the pace and magnitude of the decline varies across the States. Reasons for high growth rate are:

· Large size of population in the reproductive age group;

· High fertility due to unmet needs for contraception;

· High intended fertility due to high Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).

Rapid fall in the crude death rate (CDR) from 25.1 in 1951 to 7.3 in 2009 occurred because of technological advances and the improved quality and coverage of health care. The reduction in crude birth rate (CBR) has been less steep, declining from 40.8 in 1951 to 22.5 in 2009. As a result, the annual exponential population growth rate has been less than 2 % in the post 1991 and about 1.8% in the post 2001 period. 2001 confirmed that the pace of demographic transition in India has been steady even though it is slow and that the India has joined China as the population billionaire. The population for the year 2011 is about 1210 million with sex ratio of 940.

The population of India in the year 1901 i.e., at the turn of the twentieth century, was only around 238 million and increased by over four times to reach 1029 million by 2001. The population grew by one and half times in the first half of the twentieth century, while in the next fifty years it recorded a three-fold increase. Out of this increase, 85% has occurred during the second half of the century. This rapid growth of population since 1951 can be attributed to rapid reductions in the death rates because of communicable diseases like small pox, cholera, plague, malaria and respiratory diseases and in this respect has to be viewed as a grand success. In absolute terms, the population of India during the decade 1991-2001 increased by a 180.6 million, more than the estimated population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world. However, there are large interstate differentials in the achievement stated above. The population has been added in large proportion by the states of Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Even today a large proportion of population increase in India’s population is contributed by these five Hindi speaking states. Since 1951, the rate of increase in the population could have been much higher if the birth rate was not steadily declining over the years after early seventies. There was very good downward trend in the decline of birth rate for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab. The decline of fertility was across all the states since 1991. However, the pace of decline is still very slow in the big five states: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Because of the continuing high birth rates and death rates remaining like those of other states i.e. not very significantly different, the growth rates in population of these states is also pretty high.



The total fertility rate show also a downward trend as seen through various rounds of NFHS as it was 3.39 in 1992-93 (NFHS-I), 2.85 in 1998-99 (NFHS-II) and 2.68 in the year 2005-06 (NFHS-III). The total fertility rate (TFR) is a more direct measure of the level of fertility than the crude birth rate, since it refers to births per woman. This indicator shows the potential for population change in the country. A rate of two children per woman is considered the replacement rate for a population, resulting in relative stability in terms of total numbers. Rates above two children indicate populations growing in size and whose median age is declining. Higher rates may also indicate difficulties for families, in some situations, to feed and educate their children and for women to enter the labor force. Rates below two children indicate populations decreasing in size and growing older. Global fertility rates are in general decline and this trend is most pronounced in industrialized countries, especially Western Europe, where populations are projected to decline dramatically over the next 50 years. The population projection exercise shows that by 2026 India’s population would reach 1.40 billion. It is only after 2021 the population growth is expected to be below 1%. All India total fertility rate is expected to reach replacement level by 2021. The slow pace of fertility transition in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh is a cause of concern.

One of the major consequences of population growth is the increase in the population density. In the last hundred years population density has increased from 77/sq.km to 325/sq.km. The Malthusian assumption that population growth will lead to overcrowding, poverty, under nutrition, environmental deterioration, poor quality of life and increase in disease burden has been challenged in the last few decades. The East Asian countries have shown that population can be a major resource for economic growth. India currently faces a window of opportunity during demographic transition when there is increase among younger, better-educated, well-nourished and healthy population. If the country successfully faces the challenge of providing education, appropriate employment with adequate remuneration, promoting healthy life styles, improving access to and utilization of available social services it is possible for the country to achieve rapid economic growth and improvement in quality of life.

Once again I will like to emphasise that we should commit ourselves for successful participation in the census and other data collection efforts of the Government – as Everyone Counts.