KAMPALA – July 11 is World Population Day, a day established by the United Nations in 1989 to raise awareness about global population issues. This year’s national theme, “Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future: Towards Meeting the Needs of All,” and the global theme, “Embracing the Power of Inclusive Data Towards a Resilient and Equitable Future for All,” are interrelated.
The common message is that everyone deserves to be included and accounted for in the pursuit of a better future, and that data must be used as a tool to promote progress for all, for a more equitable and sustainable world.
This World Population Day is significant because it coincides with the 30th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), where 179 governments gathered in Cairo to commit to a Programme of Action (PoA). The promise of Cairo rested on a vision for achieving people-centered development worldwide through the delivery of universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and services and ensuring rights and choices for all. It affirmed a rights-based approach to sustainable development that placed human well-being at the center and inspired significant progress in women’s access to reproductive care, reductions in maternal deaths, and improvements in gender equality.
While we celebrate these achievements, one often unrecognized hero driving these advancements is data, the subject of an entire chapter within the ICPD PoA. This chapter recognizes the importance of data in understanding population trends and addressing population and development challenges to advance rights, choices, and demographic resilience. It further recommends that governments conduct regular censuses and surveys, strengthen national statistical systems, and improve data dissemination and communication.
Since 1994, many initiatives have echoed these recommendations, including the UN Secretary-General’s call for a “data revolution,” which would equip countries with the requisite data systems to track progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
As we mark this World Population Day, we focus on two national policy documents recently released by the Government of Uganda: the key findings of the Uganda Demographic Health Survey (2022) and preliminary results of Uganda’s first digital National Population and Housing Census (NPHC, 2024). These important documents showcase Uganda’s commitment to using data-driven decision-making and evidence-based planning to achieve its national development plans and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
As Uganda strives to achieve middle-income status by 2040, it is prudent that data takes center stage in our development agenda, as accurate, reliable, and timely data is the life force of informed decision-making, effective problem-solving, and sustainable progress.
On this day, it is also important to reflect on the theme and how data can be used as a tool to address disparities and inequalities to foster a culture of inclusivity and diversity and meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of all, including women and girls.
Notably, over the last decades, improvements in data collection, analysis, and technology have increased the availability of more comprehensive and precise information, enabling Uganda to measure and achieve global goals related to good health and the fulfillment of rights and choices. For instance, data from the preliminary findings of the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2022) revealed its transformative power in various sectors, including trends in maternal and child health, family planning, and fertility. The preliminary findings also indicated that Uganda made significant progress in the reduction of the maternal mortality ratio from 336 deaths per 100,000 live births (UDHS, 2016) to 189 per 100,000 live births (UDHS 2022). Similarly, the neonatal mortality rate decreased by 19% from 27 (UDHS, 2016) to 22 deaths per 1,000 live births (UDHS, 2022).
There was also a reduction in fertility rates from 5.4 births per woman in 2016 to 5.2 in 2022, an increase in the modern contraceptive prevalence rate among married women from 35% (2016) to 38% (2022), and a reduction in the unmet need for family planning from 28% (2016) to 22% (2022).
However, while data is key to driving advancements in sexual and reproductive health and rights, it has also uncovered gaps. Access to sexual and reproductive health continues to be hindered by inequalities within systems and societies because of gender, disability, socio-economic status, geographical location, and more.
UNFPA’s flagship State of World Population Report, “Interwoven Lives, Threads of Hope: Ending Inequalities in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,” highlights these disparities and emphasizes the need to address inequalities in sexual and reproductive health and rights and prioritize the needs of marginalized populations, including adolescent girls, young people living in humanitarian settings, and those living with disabilities.
The path forward to fulfill the ICPD promise of ensuring universal sexual and reproductive health and rights is clear: To achieve it, we must root out inequalities in our health systems and policies and focus as a priority on those women and young people who are most marginalized and excluded. Accelerating this success will require more and better data, disaggregated to understand exactly who is being left behind.
The importance of data for development cannot be overstated. Let’s harness the power of data to drive progress, accountability, and sustainable development. By embracing and leveraging data, we can create an equitable future for all and address inequality.
Sexual and reproductive health and gender equality are essential for unlocking Uganda’s full potential to create a more just and equitable society for a prosperous and sustainable future.
The time for inclusive, data-driven development is now!
The author, Ms. Gift Malunga, is the UNFPA Representative, Uganda
