State of the World Population Report 2020

Subject: Reports

Context:

The State of World Population 2020 report released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Concept:

Findings

• Theme: Against my will – Defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality
• Every year, millions of girls are subjected to practices that harm them physically and emotionally, with the full knowledge and consent of their families, friends and communities
• At least 19 harmful practices, ranging from breast ironing to virginity testing, are considered human rights violations, according to the UNFPA report, which focuses on the three most prevalent ones: female genital mutilation, child marriage, and extreme bias against daughters in favour of sons.
• There is extreme preference for sons over daughters in some countries have fueled gender-biased sex selection or extreme neglect that leads to their death as children, resulting in 140 million “missing females.”

About India:

• India accounts for 45.8 million of the world’s 142.6 million “missing females” over the past 50 years. “Missing females” are women missing from the population at given dates due to the cumulative effect of postnatal and prenatal sex selection in the past.
• Preference for a male child manifested in sex selection has led to dramatic, long-term shifts in the proportions of women and men in the populations of country.
• This demographic imbalance will have an inevitable impact on marriage systems. In countries where marriage is nearly universal, many men may need to delay or forego marriage because they will be unable to find a spouse, the report said. This so-called “marriage squeeze”.
• It could result in more child marriages. Some studies suggest that the marriage squeeze will peak in India in 2055.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

• UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.
• Its mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.