World Population Day

Whole School Assembly Pack

You will need:
• World Population Day Whole School Assembly PowerPoint
• World Population Day Whole School Assembly Script

Aims:
• To learn about the world’s population.
• To learn about World Population Day.
Optional Resources:
• ‘Heal the World’ Michael Jackson
• ‘Harvest for the World’ by The Isley Brothers or The Christians

Supplementary Information:
This Presentation is estimated to take 15/20 minutes without optional extras.
Please delete the disclaimers slides before beginning the presentation and ensure slideshow mode is used to
present - slide numbers refer to slides assuming the disclaimers slides has been deleted.

Slide 1: Hook
Show the ‘hook’ as the children are coming into assembly.

• Does our world have too many people or not enough?

Does our world have too many
Listen to the children’s response. people or not enough?

Slide 2: World Population Day Assembly

To use when the children are coming into assembly.

Ask the children:

• Does anyone know anything about World Population Day?
Listen to the children’s response.
Explain that World Population Day is an annual awareness day organised by
the United Nations (UN).
It always falls on 11th July

Slide 3: One Born Every Minute One Born Every Minute

Display the commonly used saying, ‘there’s one born every minute.’
Unicef estimates actually say that there are...

267 babies born globally every minute!

That's roughly...

Ask the children: 4.5 births per second;

So, what does
that mean?
16,000 births per hour;

• Has anyone heard this saying before? 384,500 births per day;

140 million births each year.

Allow children time to share their answers.

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World Population Day Whole School Assembly Pack

Slide 4: One Born Every Minute

One Born Every Minute
Ask the children: So, is it really true?

Is there really one baby born every

minute somewhere on the planet?

• Do you really think one baby is born every minute? Use the next minute to discuss your
thoughts with the people sitting
near you.

Give the children exactly one minute, using the timer on the presentation, to How many babies
are born in the

discuss their thoughts with the people sitting near them.

world every single
minute? START

When the timer ends, regroup the children and listen to their responses.

Slide 5: One Born Every Minute

Reveal the statistics and explain that Unicef actually estimates that 267 babies One Born Every Minute
are born every minute, which converts to: Unicef estimates actually say that there are...

267 babies born globally every minute!

• 4.5 births per second; That’s an amazing...

So, what does

4.5 births per second; that mean?

• 16,000 births per hour;

16,000 births per hour;

384,500 births per day;

140 million births each year.

• 384,500 births per day;

• 140 million births each year!

Slide 6: A Growing Population

Tell the children that ‘a growing population’ means that our population is
getting bigger all the time.

• What does ‘population’ mean? A Growing Population

It means that we have an ever-growing world population.

Explain that ‘population’ means all the people who live in a particular area,
country or even all the people in the world. ? Do you know what the estimated world
population is right now in 2024?

Reveal the question and ask the children: A 8.1 billion people

UN Population Division estimates 134,712,128 million

• Would anyone like to estimate the population of the world right now in 2024?
children will be born during 2025.

Invite the children to give estimates.

Reveal the answer and tell the children that the actual total is estimated at an
astounding 8.1 billion people.

Slide 7: Why Is the Population Growing?

Reveal the slide and tell the children that many people in the world now have Why Is the Population Growing?

access to better quality medication, healthcare and cleaner water.

Many people in the world now have access to better quality medication,
healthcare and cleaner water than they had in the past.

This means people live longer and the

babies that are born have better chances
of living their own full lives and having

This means people live longer and the babies that are born have a better children of their own.

chance of living their own full lives and having children of their own. Astoundingly, the global population
has gone from around 3 billion to 8
billion in just 63 years.

Astoundingly, the global population has gone from around 3 billion to 8 billion
in about 70 years!

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World Population Day Whole School Assembly Pack

Slides 8, 9 & 10: Let’s Play the Population Quiz

Let’s Play the Population Quiz…
Play the population quiz on slides 8-10. Reveal the question and ask
the children:
? What is the population of the United Kingdom?

• What is the population of the United Kingdom?

A Let’s Play the Population Quiz…
67.7 million people

Reveal the answer: 67.7 million.

Reveal the question and ask the children:

? What is the population of Europe?

• What is the population of Europe? A 741.8 million people

Europe’s population is equivalent

Reveal the answer: 741.8 million.

to 9.32% of the total
world population.

Let’s Play the Population Quiz…

Reveal the question and ask the children:

? What is the population of Asia?

A
• What is the population of Asia? 4.6 billion people

Reveal the answer: 4.6 billion. Asia’s population is equivalent to

59.22% of the total world
population.

Explain that 1 billion is the same as 1 million millions. Asia’s population is

59.22% of the total world population.

Slide 11: How Does the Growing Population Affect the World?
Ask the children:
How Does the Growing Population
Affect the World?
• Can you think of any ways in which our planet might be affected by the
growth in population?
Unfortunately, the demands of our growing population are harming
our environment.

As the number of people continues to

grow, we need more:
• water;

Explain that unfortunately, the demands of our growing population are doing a
• food;
• land;
• transport;
• energy.

great deal of harm to our environment. We are extracting our planet’s resources to the point where it cannot
reproduce them fast enough to catch up.

As our numbers continue to grow, we continue to increase our need for more
water, food, land, transport and energy. We are using up our planet’s resources
faster than we can produce them.

Did You Know...?

At least 18.7 million acres of forest are lost every year due to deforestation – this

Slide 12: Did You Know...?

is the equivalent of 27 football fields every minute. Forests are being destroyed to
make land available for other uses, such as farming and for commercial use.

The average British customer gets through 127 rolls

of toilet paper each year. That’s a lot of trees (if not
made from recycled paper)! In fact, it’s the

Reveal each of the ‘Did You Know…?’ facts and read through the information
equivalent of an estimated 29,000 trees daily.

The average family spends a whopping £700 on food that

about how the growth of the population impacts our planet.

goes to waste each year, while people in other poorer
countries go without because of a global food shortage.

The amount of waste and pollution we all produce is

also rising. Increased emissions of air pollutants are
causing a rise in carbon dioxide levels, which in turn
is causing global warming.

Slide 13: You Can Make a Difference! How Does the Growing Population
Affect the World?

Tell the children that if everyone made some small changes to their normal
Unfortunately, the demands of our growing population are harming
our environment.

As the number of people continues to

routines, then we could slow down the rate that Earth is being damaged.
grow, we need more:
• water;
• food;
• land;
• transport;
• energy.

Share some ideas about these small changes by reading the bullet points on We are extracting our planet’s resources to the point where it cannot

the slide.
reproduce them fast enough to catch up.

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World Population Day Whole School Assembly Pack

Slide 14: World Population Day

How Does the Growing Population
Read the information about World Population Day. Affect the World?
Unfortunately, the demands of our growing population are harming
our environment.

Ask the children: As the number of people continues to

grow, we need more:
• water;
• food;
• land;

• What other topics do you think should be a focus for future World • transport;
• energy.

Population Days? We are extracting our planet’s resources to the point where it cannot
reproduce them fast enough to catch up.

Allow children time to share their thoughts.

Slide 15: Time to Talk

Watch the human population grow from AD 1 (presented as 1CE on the video),
to the present day and the projected growth for 2050 in the ‘dot’ video from the
Time to Think
site, Population Education. Watch the human population grow from AD 1 to present day and the projected
growth for 2050 in this ‘dot’ video from Population Education.

Discuss children’s thoughts about the video and the projected growth for the
population by 2050.

Ask the children:

• How will this impact us and our world?

Allow children time to share their thoughts.

Slide 16: World Population Day Assembly

To use when the children are leaving the assembly.

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