WORLD POPULATION DAY RUN 2020: Life Expectancy, Fertility Rate & Agimats

The root word of  "population" is the Latin "populos" meaning "people."


Googling about it, the best definition of population is the one shared by Biology Dictionary. It goes like this:

"A population is the number of organisms of the same species that live in a particular geographical area at the same time, with the capability of interbreeding."

For the species of Homo sapiens, we have a day to celebrate population.  It is the World Population Day  and it is held on the 11th day of July every year.  The day came about in 1989 when it was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme.  It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, the approximate date on which the world's  population reached five billion people . The United Nations General Assembly decided to continue observing the day through its resolution 45/216 of December 1990.  Every year, there is a theme.  The focus of the 2018 celebration was "Family Planning is a Human Right."  For this year 2020, not surprisingly, the theme, as articulated by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres , is "Putting the brakes on Covid-19:  Safeguarding the health and rights of women and girls."    

For the subspecies Homo currens to celebrate the World Population Day, the good people of Pinoy Runners Global (PRG) organized the World Population Day Run (WPDR2020) slated for July 10-13, 2020.  It is part of of the Virtual Takbo (VT) Challenge series of the PRG.  Like the other VT runs, the WPDR2020  is a virtual run that does not require a registration fee.  All one has to do is go to the PRG portal (https://portal.pinoyrunners.org) and then pick the distance (8kms, 12kms, 21kms, 32kms).  It is a task as easy as apple pie. 

The easy-go-lucky guy in me picked 12kms the night before July 11. The dawn of World Population Day saw me on the village road already, eating up the dozen,  one kilometer at a time. As many of you know, the run-walk pace of the Bicolano Penguin  is akin to that of a running stupor. 

The time and pace worthy of a penguin.

 Abundant time for reflection and meditation.  For the 12kms of my WPDR2020, can't help but think of the numbers at the United Nations Population Fund dashboard:

7,795,000,000   World Population

1.1   Average rate of population change (%) 2015-2020 for the World

73   Life expectancy at birth (years) for the World. 

1,273,000,000   Population for the More Developed Regions

0.3   Average rate of population change (%) 2015-2020 for the More Developed Regions

80   Life expectancy at birth (years) for the More Developed Regions

6,521,000,000   Population for the Less Developed Regions

1.3   Average rate of population change (%) 2015-2020 for the Less Developed Regions

71   Life Expectancy at birth (years) for the Less Developed Regions

109,600,000   Population of the Philippines

1.4   Average Rate of population change (5) 2015-2020 for the Philippines

71   Life expectancy at birth (years) for the Philippines

As a Pinoy runner, what are the thoughts of the Bicolano Penguin (BP) on these population data?  Front and center,   7.8 billion is a huge gargantuan number for Planet Earth.   Evidently,  the people in Less Developed Regions are more prolific while the people in the More Developed Regions are expected to live longer.  The data on population growth rate and life expectancy point to the Philippines as being part of Less Developed Regions.  

Now here comes the crazy part. And by "crazy", the BP means that it is not substantiated by established science, at least not yet,   and that the thoughts came about because of a stupor and therefore please don't sue nor bash the BP.  The crazy thought is that running (a popular form of exercise that is relatively affordable compared to other sports like triathlon,  biking and yoga) could be part of the solution for the Philippines. 

First, to help us narrow the gap on our life expectancy (71 years) compared to that of  our richer neighbors of More Developed Regions (80 years), we can have more running. Running can add more years, at least by 3 years.  Don't take the word of BP but read the  study talked about in the Harvard Health Blog.  The findings from the study point to running increases people's lives by about three years; put another way, running for an hour provided seven hours of life benefit.  

Second, to help slow down our population growth rate (1.4% p.a.), how about the crazy idea that vigorous  exercise (again running a marathon is a prime example) may inadvertently decrease fertility in women, particularly for those  who are at their normal weight.   The theory goes that if there isn't enough energy for the body to function well on every level, it prioritises using available calories to get you through your 10-mile training run rather than ,maintain reproductive function. 

Crazy yet serious.  How about some crazy and cool numbers?

240,000,000  est Population of runners in the World. 

8,000,000 est Population of marathoners in the World.

50% World average proportion of Women in Running

31%   World average proportion of Women in Marathon Running    

4,300,000   est Population of runners in the Philippines

250,000   est Population of  marathoners in the Philippines

3,388   members of Pinoy Runners Global

55   members of Camp Row5Runnin

43   Barangays of the PRG

2   number of  Agimats by Bicolano Penguin

Yup. That is correct. The BP has 1 more Agimat than the legendary Pepeng Agimat.  Thanks to PRG, particularly to the creative minds and customer-centric hearts of the collective that is the PRG Leaders Forum (PLF).  As PRG founding member Maner explains it, the Agimat is essentially a virtual badge that is to be earned by a PRG member.  Earned as in finishing a VT event like the WPDR2020. At the end of the Virtual Takbo Series, PRG will be issuing a certificate to all participants. This certificate will bear all the Agimats earned.

Some of the architects of PRG's Agimat:  Maner, Badette & John Michael

Malamang, makakuha ng mga Agimat ang mga ito, nasaan man sila sa mundo.

How cool is that Agimat? "Tubular". would have been a cool answer but this slang emanated from the surfing community back in the 1980s.  Perhaps it is about time we have something cool of our own in PRG that captures its inclusive and global vibe.  

What you waiting for running folks?  Sign up now and join WPDR2020.  Put those kicks on, lace them up, and run like we go this for a healthy planet.        

Globalar!