Desk Report,
Youth empowerment is needed to build a family of choice
World Population Day is on July 11. The main theme of Population Day 2025 is ‘Empowering youth to build families of choice in a just and promising world’. Mohammad Moinul Islam writes about what can be done in this regard in the context of Bangladesh. World Population Day is observed on July 11 every year. The United Nations and its member states have been officially observing this day since 1990, with the aim of raising awareness on population issues and the relationship between environment and development.
Youth empowerment is needed to build a family of choice
It is noteworthy that on July 11, 1987, the world population reached 5 billion. In this sequence, it reached 7 billion in 2011 and on November 15, 2022, the world population reached 8 billion (United Nations World Population Prospects 2022).

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World Population Day
Youth empowerment is needed to build families of choice
July 11 is World Population Day. The main theme of Population Day 2025 is ‘Youth empowerment is needed to build families of choice in a just and promising world’. Mohammad Moinul Islam writes about what can be done in this regard in the context of Bangladesh

Mohammad Moinul Islam
Published: 11 July 2025, 11:58
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World Population Day is observed every year on July 11. The United Nations and its member states have been officially observing this day since 1990, with the aim of raising awareness of population issues and the relationship between environment and development.
It is noteworthy that on July 11, 1987, the world population reached 5 billion. In this sequence, it reached 7 billion in 2011 and on November 15, 2022, the world population reached 8 billion (United Nations World Population Prospects 2022).
2.
Currently, the world population has reached 8.23 billion in 2025 (United Nations Population Fund’s State of World Population 2025). Even though the world population growth rate, even the total fertility rate (TFR), is continuously decreasing, the global population size is increasing.
Currently, 1.283 billion people in the world are young people aged 15-24, which population projections indicate will continue to increase until 2034. Then, the number of people in this young group could reach 1.364 billion (United Nations World Population Prospects 2024).
According to the same source, there are currently 33.253 million people in this youth group in Bangladesh. This is a large number, a big potential and a big challenge. It can be observed that this youth group is often left out of inclusive development.
As a result, the empowerment rights and choices of this youth group are hindered or violated, and even forming a family is risky for them. However, the center of human development is the freedom to choose, where rights and choices were recognized by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994.
A youth usually chooses or decides the most important choice in life, when and how to form a family. However, in this case, inequality, lack of access to education and health, gender bias in society and economic crisis emerge as obstacles.
As a result, youth must be empowered to form a family, which will be fair, expected and sustainable in building a country and a world.
