State of World Population Report 2020
                     STATE OF WORLD 
POPULATION REPORT 2020
INTRODUCTION
• UNFPA has released the State of the World Population 2020 report titled  ‘Against 
my will: defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality’.
• The report highlights at least 19 human rights violations against women and 
focuses on different issues.
Source: Baners Adda
GLOBAL DATA
• The number of missing women has more than 
doubled over the past 50 years, who were at 61 
million in 1970.
• In Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan excess 
female mortality of girls below 5 years of age was 
under 3%.
Source: Independent
GLOBAL DATA
• According to estimates averaged over a five year 
period (2013-17), annually, there were 1.2 million 
missing female births, at a global level.
• In many countries, results in a “marriage squeeze” 
as prospective grooms far outnumber prospective 
brides, results in human trafficking for marriage.
Source: World Education
INDIA DATA
• One in three girls missing globally due to sex selection, both pre- and post-natal, is 
from India, i.e. 46 million out of the total 142 million.
• India has the highest rate of excess female deaths at 13.5 per 1,000 female births 
or one in nine deaths of females below the age of 5 due to postnatal sex selection.
Source: CNN.com
INDIA DATA
• In India, around 460,000 girls went missing at birth, which means they were not 
born due to sex-selection biases, each year between 2013 and 2017.
• India (40%) along with China (50%) account for around 90% of the estimated 1.2 
million girls lost annually to female foeticide.
Source: NextIAS
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION:
• It involves the partial or total removal of external 
female genitalia or other injuries to the female 
genital organs for non-medical reasons.
• An estimated 4.1 million girls will be subjected to 
female genital mutilation in 2020.
Source: WHO
EXTREME BIAS AGAINST DAUGHTERS, IN FAVOUR OF SONS:
• An extreme and continuing preference for sons over daughters in some countries 
has fuelled gender-biased sex selection which leads to girls’ death as children.
• The advent of technology and increased access to ultrasound imaging allow 
parents to terminate a foetus after knowing its gender.
Source: un study
EXTREME BIAS AGAINST DAUGHTERS, IN FAVOUR OF SONS:
• These skewed numbers change the population proportions and result in ‘marriage 
squeeze’.
• These violations result in fewer choices for females and putting them under the 
sexual, economic and legal control of men, curbing their human rights.
Source: Baners Adda
CHILD MARRIAGE
• Every day, around 33,000 girls under age 18 are forced into marriage, usually to 
much older men.
• In India, child marriage is directly linked to poverty, poor education and geographic 
location and the rural and urban divide.
Source: CNBCTV
COVID-19 INDUCED CHALLENGES
• The economic disruptions and income-loss because of the Covid-19 pandemic are 
likely to increase violence against girls and women.
• The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to reverse the progress made in ending some 
harmful practices worldwide.
Source: UNFPA