THE WORLD’S population is projected to reach seven (7) billion on October 31, this year. To raise awareness and engage the public, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has launched ‘7 Billion Actions’, a global movement geared to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by a world of 7 billion people, and mobilize individuals to take action in their communities. In many ways, a world of seven billion people is quite an achievement. Worldwide, people are living longer and healthier lives and couples are choosing to have fewer children. Huge inequities, however, persist, and daunting challenges lie ahead, since while many richer countries are concerned about low fertility and ageing, the poorest nations struggle to meet the needs of rapidly growing populations. The gaps between rich and poor are forever growing, and more people than ever before are vulnerable to food insecurity, water shortages and weather-related disasters.
Whether we can live together on a healthy planet will depend on the choices and decisions we make now. In a world of seven billion people and counting, we need to count on each other. The 7 Billion Actions campaign highlights seven key messages to mark this milestone, namely:
1.    Reducing poverty and inequality also slows population growth.
2.    Unleashing the power of women and girls will accelerate progress.
3.    The largest population of young people is changing our world and future.
4.    Ensuring that every child is wanted and childbirth is safe lead to smaller and stronger families.
5.    All seven billion of us and those who follow depend on the health of our planet.
6.    Lower fertility and longer lives add up to an unprecedented challenge: ageing populations.
7.    The next two billion people will live in cities, so we need to plan now.

Population trivia
•    There are over 6.8 billion people in the world. And that number is growing at an exponential rate. Wow!
•    The Population Reference Bureau estimates that the total number of people who have ever lived is approximately 110 billion.
•    A new baby is born every 4.2 seconds.
•    World population reached one billion in 1804.
•    The world population reached six billion people in 1999.
•    Another billion people is added to the world about every 12 years.

Guyana’s population
The population of Guyana (2002 Population and Housing Census) consists of approximately 751,223 persons. This number includes persons in households, those in institutions (7,403 persons) such as hospitals, prisons, military barracks, etc, and 5,505 persons who were not available to be counted after several attempts.
The population growth since the earliest censuses in the 1800s right up to the first census of the 21st  Century shows that except for census 1991, the population of Guyana increased at each census, although increases were relatively small between 1911 and 1921. The largest increase was between 1946 and 1960, reflecting the post-war baby boom that took place worldwide.

The 1991 census was the first in the history of Guyana’s census-taking that recorded a population decline of approximately 36,000 persons. This decline appears to be consistent with the peak emigration flows recorded during the decade of the 1980s as well as continuously falling fertility rates.

The decline in population numbers from 1980 to 1991 was reversed between 1991 and 2002, when the population increased by approximately 28,000 persons.

Background
In 1968, world leaders proclaimed that individuals had a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. About 40 years later, modern contraception remains out of reach for millions of women, men and young people. World Population Day was instituted in 1989 as an outgrowth of the Day of Five Billion, marked on July 11, 1987. The UN authorized the event as a vehicle to build an awareness of population issues and the impact they have on development and the environment.
The United Nations’ (UN) World Population Day is now annually observed on July 11 to reaffirm the human right to plan for a family. It encourages activities, events and information to help make this right a reality throughout the world.

You can share ideas and questions by sending your letters to: ‘Our Earth, Our Environment’, C/o EIT Division, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email eit.epaguyana@gmail.com