World Population day is an annual event, observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. World Population Day aims at increase people's awareness on various population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights.

This year's theme is 'Investing in teenage girls’. Teenage girls around the world face enormous challenges. UNFPA's programmes aim to end child marriage, curb adolescent pregnancy, and to empower girls to make informed choices about their health and lives.

Here are some interesting facts about the global population.

• The human population on earth today is over 7.4 Billion
• Every year the world's population increases by approximately 83 million.
• If the world's population continues to grow at the same rate, it will touch 12 billion by 2050.
• Till date, 108 billion people have lived on Earth.
• 6.5 per cent of all the people that have ever lived in this world are alive right now.
• The most common male first name in the world is "Muhammad," female first name is "Mary" while "Chang" is the most common surname.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the most populous nation on earth.
• Three thousand people are born every 20 minutes into the world. In the same time, a plant or an animal species become extinct.
• About 52% of the total world population is under 30 years old
• Around 50.4 per cent of the world's population is male and 49.6 per cent is female.
• The richest 20 per cent consume 86 per cent of the world's resources; the poorest 20 per cent consume a mere 1.3 per cent.
• Six countries – USA, Brazil, Pakistan, India, China and Indonesia hold half of the world's population.
• With more than 24 million dwellers, the Chinese city of Shanghai is the most populated city in the world.

How much did you know about the billions of people who share the planet with you?

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