Rising population an important and urgent problem: Mamata

“Today is #WorldPopulationDay. Rising population is an important and urgent problem facing the world,” Mamata wrote on Twitter. “We must work together to raise awareness about the issue.”

World Population Day, which seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, was established by the then governing council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989, an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on July 11, 1987.

This year's World Population Day calls for global attention to the unfinished business of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development.

Twenty-five years have passed since that landmark conference, where 179 governments recognized that reproductive health and gender equality are essential for achieving sustainable development.

On World Population Day, advocates from around the world are calling on leaders, policymakers, grassroots organizers, institutions and others to help make reproductive health and rights a reality for all.

World Population Day is celebrated differently in different countries. In 2011, world population crossed the 7 billion mark. On the occasion, the UNFPA and its partners launched 7 billion actions aimed at involving people, spurring commitments and sparking actions related to the opportunities and challenges presented by a world of 7 billion people.