World Population Day
Next: July 11, 2027
Eight billion of us, and counting.
The story
Where it comes from
World Population Day grew out of the 'Day of Five Billion'. Early in 1987, Rafael Salas, head of the UN population agency, proposed 11 July as the approximate date the world would pass five billion people, and asked for it to be marked with sober thought about the future. The Governing Council of the UN Development Programme made it an annual day in 1989, and the UN General Assembly confirmed it in December 1990. It was first marked on 11 July 1990 in more than 90 countries.
How it's celebrated
UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, sponsors the day, and its country offices work with governments and civil society on talks, reports and campaigns about health, families, young people and development. The UN has used the day to publish its World Population Prospects, the estimates behind most population headlines. For everyone else it is a good moment to think about the people the numbers stand for.
Did you know
- Rafael Salas, UNFPA's first Executive Director, was a Filipino from Bago in Negros Occidental, and the international community called him 'Mr. Population'.
- By UN estimates, the world's population reached eight billion on 15 November 2022, twelve years after it passed seven billion.
- UN figures showed India's population matching and then passing China's in April 2023, ending China's long run as the most populous country.
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