Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, the UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, attended and graced the World Population Day event on 11th July 2025 in Thimphu. The event, organized by the Royal Government of Bhutan in partnership with RENEW and UNFPA, aims to highlight critical issues surrounding reproductive rights and demographic shifts.
This year’s theme, ‘Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world,’ aligns with the UNFPA State of World Population report 2025, which emphasizes the importance of reproductive agency and the barriers many face in realizing their family planning desires.
During the event, Her Majesty officially launched the report, which reveals that the true fertility crisis is not about birth rates being too high or too low, but about individuals being denied the ability to make autonomous choices about their bodies, futures, and families.
The report, based on academic research and data from a UNFPA/YouGov survey across 14 countries representing over a third of the global population, indicates that one in five people worldwide expect to have fewer children than they desire. Key drivers include economic constraints, job insecurity, housing costs, gender-based inequalities, and social concerns.
UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem emphasized the importance of reproductive agency, stating, “The issue is lack of choice, not desire, with major consequences for individuals and societies. The solution lies in providing paid family leave, affordable fertility care, and supportive policies.”
Dr. Natalia Kanem said, “It is often assumed or implied that fertility rates are the result of free choice. Unfortunately, that is not the whole picture. Millions and millions of people still, therefore, cannot exercise their reproductive rights and choices. This inability of individuals to realize their desired fertility goals is the real fertility crisis – not overpopulation or underpopulation – and we see it everywhere we look.”
The event also featured theater performances by young people from the Y-PEER network Bhutan, addressing the implications of declining fertility for their rights and futures. A panel discussion involving stakeholders and experts discussed focusing on demographic trends, youth migration, aging populations, and policy responses.
Bhutan is experiencing a demographic transition, marked by a declining fertility rate from 6.6 in the 1980s to 2.0 in 2023 below the replacement level of 2.1. Health Minister Tandin Wangchuk also delivered the keynote address, highlighting family-friendly policies within Bhutan’s 13th Five-Year Plan, including parental leave, childcare support, flexible work arrangements, and financial incentives.
In his remarks, the Health Minister underscored the need for supportive policies that enable individuals to make reproductive choices, saying, “Fertility rates aren’t falling because people have stopped valuing family. They’re falling because many feel they cannot afford to start or grow a family due to economic and social barriers.”
The Minister said, “The way forward is clear: we need policies that support but not restrict people’s choices. That means investing in parental leave, flexible work, affordable childcare, infertility, and more equitable responsibilities at home. Only then can people truly shape their own futures.”
“The issue isn’t about people not valuing family—it’s about whether the conditions support their choices. Whether it’s the cost of living, lack of childcare, job insecurity, or the pressure to juggle work and caregiving, the barriers is real,” the Minister said, adding that, the declining fertility is not just a health issue, or a women’s issue – it is a national development issue and it calls for leadership across all sectors.”
In addition, UNFPA regional director Pio Smith said, “Many people are being forced into parenthood or shut out of it by factors beyond their control, including economic hardship, climate change, gender norms, and inadequate health systems. Systems are failing people, not the other way around.”
Pio Smith said, “We miss these realities whenever headlines and policymakers attribute falling global fertility solely to people’s opting out” of parenthood. Our findings show the opposite: Many people are being forced into parenthood, and even more are being shut out of it, by factors that are beyond their control: economic hardship, climate change, lack of partner support, infertility, gender norms, and inadequate health systems. The real problem is indeed that systems are failing people, not the other way around. And there are major consequences for individuals and societies.”
Phuntsho Wangyel, Head of Office, UNFPA Country Office, Bhutan, said, “People are unable to achieve their desired family size, not because they are rejecting parenthood, but because economic and social barriers stand in their way.”
In addition, Phuntsho said, “What can or must governments do? The report clearly shows that the answer lies in expanding choices to all people, it’s about enhancing access to reproductive health services and creating enabling environments for families.”
Meanwhile, the event aimed to foster dialogue on how governments and stakeholders can address these challenges through comprehensive, inclusive policies to support reproductive rights and demographic sustainability.
As Bhutan navigates these demographic shifts, UNFPA remains committed to supporting policies that empower individuals and uphold their reproductive choices.
