Source material and useful links for World Population briefings

for Tread Softly background briefings on World Population

Projections and Trends

World Population Prospects 2017 Revision – from UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
A Brief History of Population from New Internationalist
No-Nonsense Guide to World Population – InfoGraphic presentations
Why Population Matters to Climate Change from Population Action International

UN and Population

Population and Development in the UN System
UN Population Fund
International Conference on Population and Development

Population and Development

Family Planning 2020
Family Planning News and Overview from UN Population Fund
High Level Task Force for ICPD – Summary Policy Recommendations beyond 2014

Adding It Up: Investing in Contraception and Maternal and Newborn Health, 2017 from Guttmacher Institute
Trump’s Global Gag Rule from PAI
International Planned Parenthood Federation
Population Institute
Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition

Census Programme

2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme
Census dates for all countries from UN Statistics Division

Recent news and opinion about World Population

China’s new population numbers won’t doom its growth

6/6/2021: China’s latest census, a once-in-a-decade event, shows that the population is likely to decline for the rest of this century. What are the demographic implications for China’s economic momentum?

Source: East Asia Forum

China 2020 census shows fall in population growth

11/5/2021: China's population growth in the decade to 2020 slumped to 5.38 per cent, the lowest since official records began in the 1950s. The results of the country's 2020 census showed a total population of 1.41 billion. China's birth rate has been in steady decline since 2017.

Source: CNA

Pandemic sets back sexual and reproductive health rights

15/4/2021: The UN's State of the World Population 2021 report paints a disturbing picture of maternal health. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increasing sexual violence, more unintended pregnancies, and new barriers to reproductive health services, contributing to a maternal mortality ratio of 211 for every 100,000 live births.

Source: Devex

China considers new actions to lift flagging birth rate

19/2/2021: China's National Health Commission has issued a statement saying it will conduct research to “further stimulate birth potential". Despite ending its controversial one-child policy four years ago, the plunging birth rate continues to threaten to economic progress and social stability, .

Source: CNA

Biden acts to undo Trump damage to women’s health

28/1/2021: President Joe Biden has issued a presidential memorandum that addresses four regressive policies of the past administration. In particular, it revokes the Protecting Life in Global Health Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Covid 'imperils family planning in poorest countries'

26/1/2021: Sixty million more women and girls in the world’s poorest countries are now using modern contraceptives, after an eight-year global effort by the FP2020 global partnership. But the coronavirus pandemic imperils further progress.

Source: The Guardian

Taiwan population fell for first time in 2020

8/1/2021: Taiwan faces a burgeoning demographic crisis similar to those affecting South Korea and Japan. The birth rate has been falling continuously since 2000, a period where wages have remained stubbornly stagnant.

Source: CNA

South Korea population falls for first time

4/1/2021: The world's 12th-largest economy has one of its longest life expectancies and one of its lowest birthrates, a combination that presents a looming demographic disaster.

Source: CNA

Population panic lets rich people off the hook for the climate crisis

26/7/2020: Rising consumption by the affluent has a far greater environmental impact than the birth rate in poorer nations, says George Monbiot.

Source: The Guardian

World population growth to diminish, spurring geopolitical power shift

15/7/2020: The number of people in the world could be 2 billion fewer than UN forecasts by 2100, according to a new study. With declining fertility rates and ageing populations, experts predict a global shift in power dynamics.

Source: DW

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