World Population Day

11 July

In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recommended that 11 July be observed as World Population Day.

An outgrowth of the Day of Five Billion, celebrated on 11 July 1987, the day seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, particularly in the context of overall development plans and programmes, and the need to find solutions for these issues.

United Nations Population Fund (UNPF):

  • The UNPF commemorations will gather millions of “selfies” from young people, decision-makers, high-profile celebrities and others, in support of the proposal for a youth goal to be included in the post-2015 development agenda. The idea behind the “selfie” campaign is to gather these photos as a show of support.

South African Government activities:

The DSD, led by the Honourable Deputy Minister Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu will host an event (see media advisory below).

  • 50 young people from across the country who have taken up the role of championing the youth development agenda in their communities; will take part in the event. 
  • They will have an opportunity to engage Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu on their accomplishments as well as the challenges they would like the Department’s intervention on.
  • Key among the issues facing young people are poverty, access to education and health care (including reproductive health rights), teenage pregnancy, child marriage, female genital mutilation, youth unemployment, violence, death and injury.

As a member of the global village South Africa joins the global community in celebrating this milestone, conscious of the fact that this milestone presents both challenges and opportunities.

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