As headlines in 2025 focus on falling fertility rates and aging populations, a deeper, more urgent crisis is quietly unfolding — one that affects millions but is too often overlooked. According to the State of World Population 2025 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the world is facing not a demographic crisis, but a crisis of reproductive freedom.
Across continents, governments concerned about economic growth and population decline are introducing aggressive policies to encourage childbirth. Some offer financial incentives; others go as far as restricting access to contraception or abortion. But behind these numbers and strategies lies a more human story: many individuals are unable to have the number of children they truly want — some too few, others too many, others none— not because of personal choice, but due to lack of resources, access, or freedom.
In many low- and middle-income countries, women still face significant barriers to reproductive health services. Contraceptives may be unavailable, unaffordable, or culturally stigmatized. In wealthier nations, high costs of housing, childcare, and healthcare often push young people to delay or forgo parenthood altogether. In both contexts, people’s choices are being shaped — and often constrained — by external pressures rather than personal desire.
World Population Day 2025 is a call to refocus global attention where it truly belongs: on the rights and freedoms of individuals. Population policy should never be about controlling how many children people have. It should be about empowering everyone to make informed decisions about their own lives. This years theme is “Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world,” being a call for ensuring youth to have the rights, tools, and opportunities to shape their futures. It’s not coercion or panic that builds a sustainable future, but trust in people’s ability to decide for themselves.
Editor of Daily 27.
Predoctoral researcher at the Department of Sociology in University of Barcelona.