Think population studies as career

Ranjan K Baruah *

There is no doubt that the current estimates indicate that roughly 83 million people are being added to the world’s population every year.

Even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline, the global population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to the medium-variant projection. The population of India is expected to exceed that of China around 2027 as per World Population Prospects 2019 Report.

Our government conducts periodic surveys viz. the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and the Sample Registration System (SRS) to study the impact of various awareness programmes being conducted.

It also launched different programme related to population like Mission Parivar Vikas, ensuring quality of care in Family Planning services by establishing Quality Assurance Committees in all states and districts, National Family Planning Indemnity Scheme (NFPIS), Family Planning Logistic Management and Information System (FP-LMIS), etc.

On 11 July, World Population Day, UNFPA aims to raise awareness about different issues related to population. We are concerned about growing numbers and also different challenges being bought.

All individuals are resources but it depends how they are used as resources. Human resources are resources when they are managed properly.

The UN Population Division collaborates closely with the agencies, funds, programmes and bodies of the United Nations system in the implementation of the work programme on population and in the follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development.

Demography or the population study is the study of human populations, ancient times, present and future. It is related with how births, deaths, and migration determine change, and so determine key trends such as rapid population expansion and population ageing.

Courses includes
M.A./M.Sc Programme in Population Studies,
Master of Science in Biostatistics and Demography,
Master of Population Studies (MPS),
Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Population Studies,
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Population Studies,
Master of Population Studies (MPS) ,
Post Doctoral Fellowship(P.D.F.),
Diploma in Health Promotion Education (DHPE), etc .

There are opportunities to study the subjects and get engaged with government departments or many other civil society organisations around the world.

Aspirants may also work in different research institutes or start own consultancy services. Apart from educational qualification employability skills are must for all those who want to be successful in this field.

IIPS: The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) serves as a regional Institute for Training and Research in Population Studies for the ESCAP region.

It was established in Mumbai in July 1956, till July 1970 it was known as the Demographic Training and Research Centre (DTRC) and till 1985 it was known as the IIPS.

It holds a unique position among all the regional centres, in that it was the first such centre to be started, and serves a much larger population than that served by any of the other regional centres.

The Institute is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Besides teaching and research activities, the Institute also provides consultancy to the Government and Non-Government organizations and other academic institutions.

Over the years, the Institute has helped in building a nucleus of professionals in the field of population and health in various countries of the ESCAP region.