Vice Chairman of State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win addresses ceremony to mark World Population Day 2023
NAY PYI TAW July 11
World Population Day 2023 was marked at Myanmar International Convention Center-2 in Nay Pyi Taw at 9.30 am today with an address by Patron of the Central Census Commission Vice Chairman of the State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win.
Present on the occasion were SAC members, the Union Election Commission chairman, union ministers, the Nay Pyi Taw Council chairman, deputy ministers, diplomats, permanent secretaries, directors general, officials and guests.
In his speech, the Vice-Senior General said World Population Day was designated on 11 July 1987 when the global population reached five billion with the aim of solving population-related problems and focusing on all-round development programs for the entire humanity.
It is also celebrated yearly with the aim of promoting good practices such as the importance of reproductive health, gender equality, poverty reduction and maternal and child health to be able to create a better quality and more prosperous society in the all the humans stay fit and healthy and having an extensive knowledge of population data at home and abroad.
As a UN member, Myanmar has been holding the event since 1990, and now it is the 34th.
The UN announced on 15 November last year that the global population had reached eight billion, which is the landmark of humans. Studying the global population, it took over 120 years to increase from one billion to two billion and over 30 years to increase from two billion to three billion. But later on, it takes just over one decade to increase to one more billion.
It took only 12 years to increase seven billion to eight billion.
Such a burgeoning population and increased life expectancy have resulted from the improved health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medical science.
With a fast-growing population, there have come more disadvantages in many countries such as inequality, rich-poor gap, food insecurity, water shortages and climate change.
Most developed countries see their decreasing birth rates, contributing to labour shortages and an aging population. Meanwhile, the countries with slow progress have to struggle with their daily needs due to their increased populations. About 10 percent of the global population is under the poverty line with a daily income of less than 2 dollars.
To end poverty, protect the globe and improve the entire humanity and their expectations, the UN has set 17 sustainable development goals with 169 objectives. The UN member countries are to meet those goals by 2030.
In realizing those sustainable development goals, Myanmar is taking measures to ensure balanced development in the social, economic and environmental conservation sectors, reduce poverty, promote women’s quality and ensure gender equality.
A sustainable and balanced development project is being implemented with the aim to build a prosperous union based on democracy and federalism.
Looking at the population data of Myanmar, the population was 55.7 million on 1 October 2022, which was calculated based on the national census of 2014.
The population is expected to reach over 59.3 million by 2030.
Now is the time when Myanmar is seeing the fruitful results of its increased population.
Thus, the strength of the youths and women must be enlisted in implementing national projects. There must also be preparations to improve the social protection system and create decent jobs for the elders as the aging population will increase in future.
Meanwhile, the policies related to youth affairs and child care and development are being implemented. Sustainable Development Goal-5 must continue to be implemented to ensure gender equality and rights and privileges for women young and old.
The 2008 constitution states gender equality provisions in Section 21 Subsection A of Chapter 1 and Section 348 of Chapter 8.
Myanmar joined the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1997, and has been submitting reports. Likewise, as a member country, Myanmar is actively participating in the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children and cooperating with the international community.
With the leadership of the Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs, the National Strategic Plan for Advancement of Women was implemented with the measures on gender equality. To be able to continuously take the measures, a work schedule is underway to draw the second phase of the national strategic plan.
With the aim of achieving the sustainable development of maternal and reproductive health activities, efforts are being made giving a priority to having a decrease in maternal mortality rate, to ensure that women of reproductive age will be qualified as mothers and to let reproductive health activities be within the compass of everybody’s comprehension.
For all the people living in Myanmar to fully enjoy sexual and reproductive health rights, the National Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy is being implemented. Besides, the Five-Year Strategic Plan (2021-2025) on Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Under-five-year Child and Adolescent Health has been laid down and measures are being taken as per the tactics and work schedules to let maternal and reproductive health activities be within the compass of everybody’s comprehension.
Centers that can render complete nursing service to the people suffering gender-based violence have been opened at public hospitals in Nay Pyi Taw, Pindaya, Mawlamyine, Thaton, Myitkyina and Waingmaw and measures are being taken to extend such centers at other region-and-state-level public hospitals.
The United Nations has laid down themes for World Population Day annually on giving encouragement to boosting the measures such as safeguarding the health and rights of women and girls, focusing on productive health, ensuring gender equality and implementing family planning.
Based on the population policies laid down by the UN, this theme to mark World Population Day for 2023 was discussed and designated for our country. This year’s theme to mark the World Population Day reflects boosting effective promotion on the population and development sectors being carried out by our country.
The main message that the motto gives says that a country’s development could not be measured based only on its small or big population but implementation of good policies laid down in that country and implementation of sector-wise development projects upon its situation is more important. Myanmar needs to apply population and development harmoniously.
In carrying out the measures for improvement of socioeconomic sectors of Myanmar, efforts are to be made to ensure good life in general through taking measures on boosting women’s empowerment, gender equality, family planning and maternal and reproductive health.
The world’s pollution has reached 8 billion people. Despite the constant increase in the population, it is expected that the population rate will gradually become slow in the future due to continuous decrease in the birth rate over the past 50 years.
With the drop in birth rate and increase in life expectancy of man, the elderly dependency ratio may increase day by day.
But, as migrants from poor countries with high birth rate are moving to the countries with low birth rate, the population rate will be continuously growing.
The countries that migrants have left will face a decrease in population.
It is learnt that women live longer than men although more boys than girls are born across the world.
It will be seen that opportunities could be grasped through finding ways to overcome difficulties being currently faced in world nations in changes of population.
Myanmar also has to grasp opportunities from changes on population bracing for the difficulties and challenges experienced currently. Therefore, to be able to grasp opportunities from changes of population in our country, the pilot census will be conducted in October, 2023 and the nation-wide population census from October 1 to 15 in 2024. Only if important data on population and correct figures are acquired, will there be opportunities for all-round development of the nation, and efforts could be made to build a good future for ensuring truly and fully disciplined multi-party democracy and emergence of a union based on democracy and federalism. Accordingly, all are to work together.
The attendees who are present at the ceremony to mark World Population Day thanked departments and organizations that helped collect world-class data on Myanmar’s population through participating in conducting the phases of census collection.
It is necessary to collectively help conduct the pilot census process in 2023 and all stages of the census process on population and housing census in 2024.
Afterwards, Union Minister for Immigration and Population U Myint Kyaing briefed on the change of population in Myanmar and suggestions on policy.
Then, an educational video clip on collecting population and housing census in 2024 was shown.
Later, the Vice-Senior General, together with the attendees, had a documentary photo taken and took a tour of exhibits marking the 2023 World Population Day.