Did the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Growth decide on depopulating the earth from 6 billion to 800 million people? No, that's not true. The conference focused on gender equality, women empowerment and education. There was no mention of depopulating the earth from 6 billion to 800.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on Tiktok by @hidearzaki on July 22, 2023, under the title "The world population summit in Cairo, year 1994, 160 states agreed on decreasing the world population to 800 million by 2030." It opened:
The world population summit in Cairo, Egypt, had 160 nations participating, where they all agreed the world population is out of control and must be stopped because the world is running out of resources. An agreement was formed that mandates reduction of humans from 6 billion to 800 million by the year 2030.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jul 25 12:41:19 2023 UTC)
The claim was published in many different accounts on TikTok, such as here, here and here.
However, Lead Stories found out that the 1994 International Conference on Population and Growth in Cairo, Egypt, did not mention depopulating the earth, but it focused on women's empowerment, education and gender equality.
A statement by the United Nations Population Fund published on their website in 1994 regarding the conference in Cairo, reveals the major aim of the conference as the following:
The Conference adopted the Programme of Action by consensus, which emphasized the fundamental roles of women's interests in population matters and introduced the concept of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. A new definition of population policy was advanced, giving prominence to reproductive health and the empowerment of women.
The claim has also been debunked by other fact-checking agencies, such as Logically.
