World Post Day 2025 — Significance, celebrations & theme

World Post Day is celebrated every year on October 9, the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 through the Berne Declaration.

It was declared World Post Day by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1969. 

Purpose

The purpose of World Post Day is to create awareness of the role of the postal services in the daily lives of people and the everyday functioning of businesses, as well as its contribution to the social and economic development of countries.  

The day seeks to encourage member countries to undertake programme activities aimed at generating a broader awareness of their Postal service’s role and activities among the public and media on a national scale. 

India at the Asian Pacific Postal Union

The Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU), formed in 1962, is a Restricted Union of the UPU with a membership of 32 countries, including India. It aims to facilitate postal exchange in the region and promote cooperation among the member countries' postal services.

Postal stamp and postal history of India

Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of British India from 1773 to 1784, opened the Postal Service to the public in March 1774. 

The Post Office Act of 1837 reserved to the government the exclusive right to convey letters in the territories of the East India Company. 

In 1850, a report was commissioned into the working of the Post Office in India. The first postal stamp in India was introduced on July 1, 1852, in the Scinde district. 

The first pictorial stamps were issued in 1931. 

The Electronic Indian Postal Order (eIPO) was launched on March 22, 2013, for online payment of fees for seeking information under the RTI Act 2005.

The number of post offices was 23,344 when India became independent in 1947, and these were primarily in urban areas. The number increased to 1,64,987 in 2025, and 90 per cent of these are in rural areas.

World Post Day 2025

The theme for World Post Day 2025 is ‘#PostForPeople: Local Service. Global Reach.’

This year's theme emphasises the Post as a crucial public service anchored in communities and powered by people. 

From remote villages to major cities, the Post connects people and provides access to the world.

International Letter Writing Competition for children

The UPU organises the International Letter Writing Competition for children aged 9 to 15 years old annually.  The competition was created by the 1969 Tokyo Congress and officially launched in 1971. Each year, the UPU International Bureau chooses a theme. Participating countries organise the competition at the national level through the post, often with the support of education authorities and the media. 

This year, the topic for the competition is “Imagine you are the ocean. Write a letter to someone explaining why and how they should take good care of you.”