11 July - World Population Day

The global human population is more than three times larger now than it was in the mid-twentieth century, and reached 8 billion in 2022.

The growth is due to various factors, including increasing numbers of people surviving to reproductive age; the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine; increasing urbanisation; and accelerating migration. Although the birth rate is falling in some parts of the world, the increase is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in others.

World Population Day aims to increase people’s awareness about these, and other population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, and human rights.

Access the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) #8BillionStrong multimedia page here https://www.unfpa.org/8billion. Choose one of the 8 trends for a world of 8 billion people and find a fact that interests you from among the texts, images, maps, statistics and infographics.

In Unit 9: SDG8 Decent Work and Economic Growth of Develop Your English: with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (free to access) you can find out more about urbanisation and migration.