Almost 78 million people are being added globally every year and the growth is concentrated in some of the poorest countries, the organisation's India representative Michael Vlassoff said at a press conference here today being observed worldwide as the ``day of the six billion''.

To stabilise the growing population, the Government should come out with a strong population policy and appropriate reproductive healthcare measures, Shabana Azmi, a goodwill ambassador of UNFPA and MP, said.

As coercive methods of population planning have failed in the past, the new policy should make men and women equal partners in decisions regarding reproductive health issues, without violating the reproductive rights of people, she said.

All states should learn from Tamil Nadu and Kerala whichhave successfully implemented India's reproductive and child health (RCH) policy that started in 1997, Azmi said.

She said 70 per cent of maternal deaths in the country were preventible and more women die of pregnancy-related disorders in India in a week than those in Europe annually.

Most women in rural India suffer from reproductive tract infections due to poor hygiene, Azmi pointed out.

Population stabilisation measures worldwide require $17 billion annually which equals what the world spends on weapons in a week, she said.

UNFPA will organise various campaigns starting today to revive the debate on population and development issues. Population foundation of India would organise a national symposium on population and development in February next year as part of the efforts.

About 80 million people are annually added to the world population and about 56 million people die every year. Infant mortality rate has been reduced to 57 per 1000 from 155 per 1000 in 1950.

Increase in urban population isthree times faster than the increase in rural population worldwide and there would be 26 megacities in the world by 2015, 18 of which would be in Asia, UNFPA said.

In 1994, 179 nations agreed to confront population-related challenges at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) at Cairo.

A five-year review has shown that ICPD approach has met with some success and member countries are firmly committed to it, according to UNFPA.

Population growth has slowed due to lower fertility, increased life expectancy and decreased infant mortality rates.

The Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (IAPPD), in collaboration with INFPA, is getting a giant pledge card signed by senior leaders and state ministers that would be presented to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

World population, which has more than doubled since 1950, was 1,000 million in 1804. It took 123 years to add another 1,000 million, 33 years to reach 3,000 million in 1960, 14 years toreach 4,000 million and 13 years to reach 5,000 million in 1987.