World Population Day is observed annually on 11 July to raise awareness of global population issues. The date was chosen because it was on or around 11 July 1987 that the world’s population reached five billion people. That figure is now nearly 7.5 billion, and the United Nations estimates it will be around 11.2 billion by the year 2100. Part of the problem is that people are living longer – life expectancy at birth increased from 30 to 67 between 1800 and 2005.
China is the world’s most populous country with around 1.4 billion inhabitants, but its population is falling, and India is catching up rapidly.
People crowd onto a bridge that they believe can help them escape tribulations and illnesses during the annual Caiqiaohui event in Mianyang, Sichuan province, China
An artificial wave pool is packed by would be swimmers to escape the summer heat in Daying county in Sichuan province, China
People scramble to reach the roof of an overcrowded train at a station in Dhaka, during the annual festival of Eid al-Adha in 2015
Scooters and motorcycles at a junction during rush hour in Taipei, Taiwan, in 2009
People try to touch the religious icon of the Black Nazarene during the annual procession in the Philippines capital Manila on 9 January 2015 attended by over 5 million people
Devotees try to form a human pyramid during celebrations to mark the Hindu festival of Janmashtami in Mumbai, India
Students practice tai chi on a playground at a high school in Jiaozuo, Henan province, China, during a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest martial arts display, on 18 October 2015
A traffic jam near a toll station on a huge highway as people return home at the end of a week-long national day holiday, in Beijing, China, on 6 October 2015
Jobseekers visit booths of companies at a job fair for graduates in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China
Shi’ite Muslims gather at the shrine of Imam Hussein during Ashura commemorations in Karbala, Iraq, on 4 November 2014 when an estimated 20 million people visited the holy site
Shi’ite Muslims gather at the shrine of Imam Hussein during Ashura commemorations in Karbala, Iraq, on 4 November 2014 when an estimated 20 million people visited the holy site
Muslim pilgrims pray at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage
Lifeguards attempt to control the crowd as people visit the beach on new year’s day in Durban, South Africa, on 1 January 2014
A crowded beach in Durres, on the Albanian Adriatic
Couples pose for a group photograph during a mass wedding ceremony at the Taipei Flora Expo Hall in Taiwan on 9 September 2010
Commuters are held outside Oxford Circus tube station in London, United Kingdom, to regulate numbers
Commuters wait for a train at a subway station in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Passengers crowd into a departure hall while waiting to board trains at a railway station in Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, during the annual new year mass migration
People walk along a crowed shopping street on the first day of the winter sales in Barcelona, Spain
Laundry hangs outside a student dormitory at a college in Wuhan, Hubei province, China
Residential buildings in Po Lam, one of Hong Kong’s satellite towns. About 25 percent of the world’s tallest 100 residential buildings, over 200 metres tall, are in the territory
Thousands of internally displaced people queue for the distribution of goods at Kibati camp near the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on 10 December 2008
An overcrowded train leaves a platform in Tongi near Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka in 2003, as pilgrims flock to the annual Ijtema Muslim gathering
High rise residential buildings are seen behind a slum in Mumbai, India, on 20 July 2010
Hindu pilgrims make their way over pontoon bridges near Sangam during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India
