7 billion in action

The world population has crossed 7 billion nine months back and it is still increasing. This increasing population can be taken as a challenge as well as an opportunity for growth and development because it increases human capital which is the stepping stone of success for any country, on the same hand increasing population can be looked as a thread which leads to unemployment, shortage of food, space and basic needs. Beside that the government has to spend more on health, education, development and availability of basic needs for the people. To deal with these challenges and to aware the people against various problems arising due to rising population united nation on 11^th July 1989 celebrated first world population day and decided to celebrate every year in order to remind the people of the rising problems and create awareness against increasing population. The theme of world population day 2012 is “Universal access to reproductive health services.” The vision of united nation fund for population activities (UNFPA) is a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child is safe and every young person potential is fulfilled. In whole world reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death of women during pregnancy. Nearly 222 billion women who would like to avoid or delay pregnancy lack access to effective family planning. Every day nearly 800 women die giving birth to life.

In 1804 world population was 1 billion which increased to 2 billion in 1927 and within thirty two years it reached to 3 billion in 1959 and in 1974 it was 4 billion where as in 1998 it was 6 billion. We can observe that the rate of population increase is very high and last year 31^st October 2011 it reached to 7 billion. Today at present the population of the world is more than double as compared to 1950. In 2050 it is expected to cross 9 billion. In poor nation population increase is highest nearly four times that of 1961. According to UNFPA we have to face new challenges every time as land is shrinking and there is lack of space, raw material and minerals are limited, gap between rich and poor is increasing day by day due to addition of 7.8 million people every year which is ultimately affecting our living environment.

In whole world China has the highest population of 1.3 billion followed by India 1.2 billion which is 17.5% of world population. There are many countries whose land area does not mark up with the population. At the same time countries like Brazil, Canada etc. has very less population as compared to their land area.

7 billion world population has given rise to many challenges and yet many more to come. In whole world more than 1 billion people sleep without having food at night. The rate of population increase does not match the rate of production of food materials. In future when this population will increase 2-3 billion more, then it would be very difficult to feed all the people. Today challenges related to environment pollution are very important for human race. Since there is an increase in population we are clearing forests to build township which is ultimately affecting our environment, due to this there is a change in climate resulting many species to extinct or are at the edge of existence and if this goes on like this then one day human will also exist from this planet.

According to scientist till 2050 the consumption of energy will be double or even more than that. Today only 20% of total energy consumption comes from petroleum products and which is limited in this earth. In coming future when this will increase to 30% then it will be difficult to satisfy the demand of increasing population because at present only we are 70% dependent on petroleum products. It is like a time bomb for this whole world. It is a fact that one day all these petroleum products will dry up then we will have to face various difficulties in terms of energy, if any supplementary means of energy is not found. It is a very critical situation for south Asia - Africa and Central America, for example; in Ethiopia where people are suffering from scarcity of food at the same time they are also suffering from scarcity of water.  At which rate population is increasing in the same rate we are also polluting water by various human activities. Two third portion of earth is filled with water but it is of no use.

Globally many countries have been inspired by the problem of better established life. According to rough figure nearly 17.5 million people are living a established and better life and this is only 3%of the total population of the world. Among these many are from developed nations, but this number is also increasing gradually in developing nations. The increase in population is also affecting country’s growth. Day by day pressure is increasing on land and there has been a decrease in 30% of animal species as human has been destroying the environment by one or the other means. If humans goes on harming the environment and rate of population does not decreases then in future earth will become small and we will need one more planet to live.