HomeMotoring UKWorld Population Day 2017 – Raising Awareness Jayne Henry July 11, 2017 Motoring UK July 11th is World Population Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the growing population, the issues this causes and ways in which people can be empowered to take control of their own family planning. World Population Day was first established in 1990 as a result of the massive public interest in Day of Five Billion, the day when the population of the world reached a massive five billion. It brings together governments and charitable organisations in a mission to increase public awareness of the plight of people in third world countries, when it comes to family planning. There are an estimated 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy but are unable to, either due to a lack of education, a lack of support or by not having adequate access to contraceptives. World Population Day champions the message that contraception is a basis human right for all. Women should have the choice whether they have children, when they have children and how large a family they have. Without access to contraception, families in the 69 poorest countries are having more children than they would otherwise choose too. This puts a huge burden on the family when it comes to financial support and at the most basic level, children are becoming malnourished due to a lack of food to feed larger families. World Population Day helps to raise funds that go towards increasing education with regards to family planning, particularly with teenage girls, and also to help provide contraception more widely in poorer countries. A different theme is picked every year and this year’s is “Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations” World Population Day this year coincides with the Family Planning Summit which aims to give a further 120 million women access to family planning. If you are getting involved in World Population Day, perhaps visiting an awareness raising event or attending a seminar, you may want to help spread the world with a WPD private plate such as 54 WPD, 70 WPD or WPD 191. All these and more are available on our website. Simply type WPD into our search box and take your pick!