By Asmau Ahmad
The United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) has urged societies to invest in people, their rights and choices, saying it is the road to the prosperity and peace that everyone wants and deserves.
The call was made in a statement made available to newsmen by the UNFPA’s Media Associate in Nigeria, Hajiya Kori Habib in Abuja on Monday, on the occasion of the 2022 World Population Day (WPD).
WPD was established by the Governing Council of the UN Development Programme in 1989, an event that is annually observed on July 11 to raise awareness on global population issues.
The 2022 WPD has “A World of 8 billion: Towards a Resilient Future for All –Harnessing Opportunities and Ensuring Rights and Choices for All” as its theme.
Kori Habib also stated that the world body had announced that the world’s population would hit eight billion on November 15.
She added that the milestone figure would attract attention and debate, and likely scaremongering over “too many” people, but that would be a mistake.
She quoted the UNFPA Executive Director, Dr Natalia Kanem, as saying that “focusing only on population numbers and growth rate often lead to coercive and counterproductive measures and the erosion of human rights.
“The population story is far richer and more nuanced than a single number can capture. There may be more people in the world today, but equally important is the unprecedented demographic diversity we see within the global population.
“A growing number of countries face population ageing, and roughly two-thirds of the world’s population now live in a country or area with below-replacement fertility, or fewer than 2.1 births per woman.
“Others have youthful and growing populations and more people are on the move, either by choice or driven by crises ranging from conflict to climate change. Understanding these shifts is critical to harnessing opportunities and mitigating potential downsides.
“People are the solution, not the problem. At UNFPA, we advocate for measuring and anticipating demographic changes.
“Each country should have the information it requires to meet the needs of diverse population groups and ensure that individuals can realise their full potential.”
The UNFPA executive director said when people have the power to make informed choices about whether and when to have children, when to exercise their rights and responsibilities, they can navigate risks and become the foundation of more inclusive, adaptable and sustainable societies.
Kanem added that achieving demographic resilience starts with a commitment to counting not just numbers of people, but opportunities for progress and barriers that stand in its way.
She, therefore, called for transformation of discriminatory norms that hold individuals and societies back “and a fair use of resources so that we can mitigate risks and meet the needs of current and future generations.”
The mandate of the UNFPA is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
