World Population Day: inspiring changemakers and 10.3 billion
World Population Day (WPD) 2024 came and went last week, and the big news is the global population is now due to peak in 60 years. Here we round up a busy day for Population Matters, including an analysis of the new population projections, a look back at our online event and an inspirational new group of award winners.
The road to 10 billion
Every two years, the United Nations (UN) releases new projections for future population changes at a global, national and regional level through to the end of the century. Their latest numbers were published last week on WPD.
Here are the headlines:
- We will add another two billion people by 2061
- The world’s population will peak at 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s
- It will then gradually decline to 10.2 billion by 2100
To read a further, fuller analysis, please click here.
The good news is, the peak is slightly lower than the last set of projections two years ago. That said, it still represents a significant increase from today’s number of 8.1 billion. This means more people will find themselves trapped in poverty, suffering the impacts of the climate crisis and unable to access the fundamental building blocks of education and healthcare necessary for sustainable development.
Celebrating Women in Conservation
On WPD, we were thrilled to welcome three trailblazers from partner organisations worldwide to our latest webinar.
Dr. Joan Castro of PATH Foundation, Philippines, Isabella Cortes of Women for Conservation, Colombia and Wendo Aszed of Dandelion Africa, Kenya. We heard about each of their programmes and their insights related to healthcare, local environmental pressures, the climate crisis and much more. Watch it back below.
Rewatch the event here
Celebrating changemakers
This WPD, for the fourth year running, we gave awards to individuals and organisations across the globe for their progressive and inspiring work defending the environment, promoting reproductive rights and enlightening the public about the challenges we face and the solutions available.
Find out more about the winners here.
