Even as Peoples are Dying and Global Growth Dramatically Slows the U.N. Keeps Hyping "World Population Day"

Contact: Jonathan Abbamonte, Population Research Institute, 540-660-2733, jonathan@pop.org 

FRONT ROYAL, Va., July 10, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- On July 11th, the United Nations will celebrate its 26th World Population Day. The point of this annual exercise is to raise money to promote abortion, sterilization and contraception among poor and vulnerable women by alarming us about the dangers of global population growth.

The problem with this narrative is that, in many regions of the world, the population is declining, not growing. About half the world's population lives in "low-fertility" countries, where women have fewer than 2.1 children on average over their lifetimes. Low-fertility countries now include all of Europe (except Iceland), the Americas (17 countries, including the United States), and most of Asia (19 countries).

Many developed nations are already suffering from the effects of population decline. Populations in many areas are rapidly aging as younger cohorts are becoming smaller. Social safety nets are being strained to the breaking point as fewer workers are struggling to support increasing numbers of elderly.

Growth rates have also slowed in many developing nations. Thailand, Myanmar, and Tunisia are all below replacement level fertility. Even once-fertile Bangladesh has fallen below the replacement threshold of 2.2.

Given that birth rates are falling farther and faster than anyone imagined possible a couple of decades ago, what's the U.N. to do to galvanize the U.S. and the world to continue putting this kind of money into the overpopulation pot?

Change the subject, that's what.

The theme for this year's World Population Day is not "Overpopulation," but rather "Vulnerable Populations in Emergencies." This is nothing more than an attempt to exploit the tragic and desperate conditions of the millions displaced or threatened by war, disaster or violent extremism to raise funds for population control.

Of course, it is true that the UNFPA has no qualms with pushing contraception and abortion on vulnerable populations in their time of greatest need. In its own words: "UNFPA works in emergency settings around the globe to respond to…the needs of women and girls…restoring their access to sexual and reproductive health care."

Refugees are in desperate need of almost everything. They generally lack shelter, food, access to clean drinking water, health care--the list goes on and on.

And, for this year's World Population Day, the U.N. wants to give them … birth control.