Pakistan misery soaring population of Pakistan is crisis or Blessing?

[usman_1112]

Much of the global burden of disease is due to sexual and reproductive ill health.
"A combination of factors like non-availability of services, baseless traditional beliefs and misconception play a big role.” Everything depends on population: the economy, security, progress, values, culture.

Most of classic Economist as well as subsequent theorist based their theories on Malthusians theory .According to theory pressure of population brought down the wages to subsistence level and there was a constant fear of positive checks(faimine,war,and epidemics) .If preventive checks(celibacy,abstinence,and later marriage) were not applied.

Pakistan population grew from nearly 33 million in 1947 to about 180.8 million to date--an increase of over five times since the year of independence. Continued rapid growth in population has ranked Pakistan seventh in world and the third biggest contributor to world population growthIt was estimated as 146 million in mid-2002, (Source: Population Census Organization, 1998 Census Report of Pakistan and Economic Survey 2001-02).

In 1950 Pakistan had a population of 37 million and was the world's 13th largest country. By 2007 it was the sixth largest country with 164 million people. Pakistan population was 144 million people in 2000.In 2008 PAKISTAN population is 180.8 million ,In 2020 -336 million, 2040-446 million, 2060-550 million populations will be expecting by Pakistan. Is population boom is crisis or a blessing as a result of economy growth?

Pakistan is the world’s seventh-most populous country, with a population density of over 226 people/ km². Most of the population is concentrated in the plains surrounding the Indus River and its tributaries. The country has a moderate youth bulge; the average age is 21 and over 37% of Pakistanis are under 15 years of age.

Sexuality and reproduction are…fundamental to personal identity and fulfillment, and to Family and social relationships. Sexual and reproductive health services help individuals
And societies achieve a range of social and economic goals.

32% of girls are married before 18 years of age from 1998-2007 (UNICEF), 33% Unmet need for family planning (PRB), Current total fertility rate: 4.0 (PRB) Pakistan’s total fertility rate (average number of children born by a woman in her lifetime) has declined in the past few decades. UNICEF estimated the total fertility rate at 6.3 in 1990 and 3.5 in 2007. The Population Reference Bureau estimates the current TFR at 4.0 (2009).

The TFR in rural areas (4.5 births) is considerably higher than the rate in urban areas (3.3 births). despite the decline in fertility rate, women in Pakistan have more children than those in the neighbouring countries like India where TFR is 2.7, Bangladesh 3.0 and Nepal 3.1.

Each year almost 400,000 infants and 16,500 mothers die from pregnancy- related causes. The infant mortality rate (75 deaths per 1,000 live births) is way above the world average of 52 deaths, and in more developed countries this rate is around 6 deaths (PRB, “Pakistan Still Falls Short of Millennium Development Goals…”).


Pakistan launched one of the first population control programmes in the 1950s, yet has lagged far behind other countries in effectively implementing or developing its understanding of population programmes. When Pakistan launched its national population programme in 1965 it was one of the first countries to take this ambitious step. Yet 46 years later, the programme is remarkable for its lack of impact on contraceptive Prevalence and fertility reduction, not for its achievements.

Government economists and academics from Harvard University, who assisted the Planning Commission in designing both the First (1955-60) and Second (1960-65) Five Year Plans, urged the government to recognize that even a 1.4% rate of population growth was a threat to economic progress. Ayub Khan took serious note of these early warnings but found him frustrated in his search for a quick solution.

The population sector has suffered because of this problem, more so since 1976 when the Programme was fully federalized. In 1979 UNFPA suggested provincialization as the first step in the transition towards the full integration of population with health, which was already the responsibility of the provinces

The Muslim world has one of the world's highest rates of population growth if not the highest. This is causing increasing human pressures upon a region of the globe that has suffered from millennia of abuse and degradation. Perhaps for this region, the Muslim world has been involved in more armed conflicts (mainly along the interface between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds) than any other region of the world. (Africa has a similar rate of population growth and a similar number of armed conflicts.). Of the 10 countries that achieved the fastest reduction in the total fertility rate between 1980 and 1999, eight were Islamic countries

There is a well-known story about how a society stabilizes its population. As a country transitions from poverty to affluence, birthrates plunge—from six or eight children per woman to just about two. Population growth levels off. Prosperity and education, the story goes, are just about the best form of birth control there is. But this tale gets it backward. Low birthrates aren’t a consequence of national wealth; rather, they’re needed to create it. Soaring unemployment, endemic poverty, and flailing schools are quite simply impossible to combat when every year adds more and more people.

Economic Development in Low-Income Countries. It argued that population control would allow families to accumulate more money for investment and thereby solve the problem of insufficient capital in poor countries

Family Planning Scheme for Pakistan during Third Five-Year Plan, 1965-1970 Prevent 5-6 million births in next 5 years. Reduce annual birth rate from 50 to 40 per 1000 by 1970.Cover all 20 million fertile couples with services by 1970.main objective was, Maintain present and planned level of increase in per capita income. Obtain self-sufficiency in food, avoid imbalance in age structure of population. . Full-time staff included 1392 Family Planning Officers, 1200 Lady Family Planning Visitors, and 1209 Family Planning Assistants. Among the part-time staff were 25 000 traditional birth attendants, village 'dais' (Traditional Birth Attendants) were employed (one 'dai' for two villages), who earned referral fees for clients they brought in (Ministry of Health 1965). Usa aid it had spent over $30 million on Pakistan's population programme; during 1965-75 US AID provided 40% of total programme inputs.

In 1965 The annual crude birth rate was around 45 per thousand and death rate was around about 18 per thousand and net growth rate was 2.7% per annum. Annual crude birth rate was around 45 per thousand and death rate was around about 18 per thousand and net growth rate was 2.7% per annum.

Family Planning Scheme for Pakistan during (1970-1977) Reduce birth rate from 45/1000 to 40/1000 (in original Fourth Plan, 1970-1975) 34% of married women will practice effective contraception by 1975. 9.6 million births prevented.Main Objective was Maintain a growth rate in GNP higher than population growth.Rapidly reduce fertility. 1972 Census were made public; they revealed that Pakistan's poulation had grown from 43 million in 1961 to 65 million, and fertility levels remained Unchanged. In late December 1971, the population was estimated at 65.2 million.

Following Zia ul-Haq's coup d'état in 1977, government population planning efforts were almost halted. In 1980 the Population Division, formerly under the direction of a minister of state, was renamed the Population Welfare Division and transferred to the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development. This agency was charged with the delivery of both family planning services and maternal and child health care. The population by 1980 had exceeded 84 million

Family Planning Scheme for Pakistan during (1983-1987) Zia froze the population programme when he first assumed power in 1977. One stated reason for his decision stemmed from the widespread belief that Bhutto had used PPP workers as field motivators. Reduce birth rate from 40.3 to 37.3/1000 by 1987.Increase contraceptive
prevalence rate from 9.5% to 18.6% by 1988.Reduce rate of growth from 2.87 to 2.69 by 1987.If above achieved, then 0.5 million births will be prevented per year by 1987-88 (Sixth Plan)

In preparing the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1983-88), the government projected a national population of 147 million in the year 2000 if the growth rate were to be a constant at 2.8 percent per year, and of 134 million if the rate were to decline to the desired 2.1 percent per year by then

By the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1988-93) period, the multipronged approach initiated in the 1980s had increased international donor assistance and had begun to enlist local NGOs.

Modifications of the multi-sectoral approach during Seventh and Eighth Five-Year Plans1988-1998). Seventh Plan 1987-1993 Lower crude birth rate from 42.3 to 38/1000 ncrease contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) from 12.9% to 23.5% .Prevent 3.17 million births Accelerated Programme 1991: Eighth Plan 1993-1998 Raise CPR from 14% to 9%.Reduce total fertility from 5.9 to 5.4. Reduce crude birth rate from 39 to 35/1000 revent 4.66 million births Reduce population growth rate from 2.9% to 2.6%.
Objectives Increase in child survival will help reduce fertility Overcome inadequacies in service availability and involvement of other Government sectors. two child polices was introduced in that plan.

8th plan 1998-2003 aims at reducing Growth Rate from 2.4% to 1.9%, Total Fertility Rate from 5.2% to 4.2% and to increase Contraceptive Prevalence Rate from 24.4% to 40.3%. Total population 146 m 2002 Economic Survey, 2001-2002,

Budgetary allocation and expenditure on Family Planning Programme by Five-Year Plan Period, 1955-2011.
(1)1955-60, Allocation 0.5 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees), % foreign ssistance to expenditure o, Utilization % -
(2)1960-65, 30.5, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 19 , % foreign assistance to expenditure 60, Utilization % 62.29
(3) 1965-1970 , Allocation 284 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 356 % foreign Assistance to expenditure 18, Utilization % -125
(4) 1970-1978, Allocation 1028.8 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 833.9, % foreign Assistance to expenditure 51.3, Utilization % -81.1.

(5) 1978-83, Allocation 1800 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 617, % foreign ssistance to expenditure 18.8, Utilization % 75.
(6) 1983-88 Allocation ,2300 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 1686.3, % foreign
Assistance to expenditure 52.6, Utilization % 82.
(7)1988-93, Allocation 3555 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 3172.485, % foreignAssistance to expenditure 38.6, Utilization % 104.
(8)1993-1998, Allocation 9000 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 8400, % foreign ssistance to expenditure 26, Utilization % 92.
(9) An amount of Rs.8140 million has been so far allocated for Population Welfare Program during 1998-2002 as against plan provision of Rs.15625 million. The allocation against plan provision comes to 52% only. An amount of Rs.4182 million has been proposed for the year 2002-2003 to establish the service delivery infrastructure which could not be established during the years of the 9th Plan.

(10) PSDP 2002-2003, 3200.0 allocation, propsed-4200 millions rupees.
(11) PSDP 2003-2004 ,Allocation,3700 million,Propsed-4809 millions rupees.
(12) 2004-2011-allocation,29680.1,Propsed-61207.1 million rupees.
(13)PSDP2001-2011 Funds allocation 71941-5,Propsed-71941.4 millions rupees, Resource Gap-32760.9 million rupees.

The largest amount earmarked for family planning since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo was in 1995, with US$723 million committed, remaining above $600 million for all but one year to 1999. The latest estimate, for 2007, is about $338 million

Poverty Trends in Pakistan and Urban-Rural Areas:1990-91 to 1998-2008.
1992-93 total , 24.9,Urban 19.8 ,Rural,27.0. 1993-94,total, 27.7,urban,15.2,rural,33.0
1996-97,total,24.5,Urban14.8,rural,28.7.1998-99-total,30.6,urban,20.9.rural,34.7,1999-2000,Total,35.2,urban,31.7,rural,39.2.

Percentage of population living below the poverty line has fallen from 34.46 percent in 2001 to 23.9 percent in 2004-05, a decline of 10.6 percentage points. In absolute numbers the count of poor persons has fallen from 49.23 million in 2001 to 36.45 million in 2004-05. The percentage of population living below the poverty line in rural areas has declined from 39.26 percent to 28.10 percent while those in urban areas, has declined from 22.69 percent 14.9 percent. In other words, rural poverty has declined by 11.16 percentage points and urban poverty is reduced by 7.79 percentage points

The WB validated the decline in poverty from 22.3 per cent in 2005-06 to 17.2 per cent on the basis of the data collected in 2007-8 under the Household Income Expenditure Survey (HIES). The latest survey found that poverty in the urban areas stood at 10.10 per cent and in the rural areas, it stood at 20.60 per cent. PC’s own panel of economists, led by renowned economist Dr Hafeez A Pasha, had estimated poverty in the range of 37.5 per cent just a few months back.

Almost 74% of the population lives below $2 per day (UNDP,“Human Development Report”) with 31% below the poverty line of $1 per day (PRB). Due to increased food prices and poor access to affordable health care, progress in reducing poverty has been set back seven years (WHO, “Impact of Food Crisis on Health).

Rural poor, Agricultural Laborers 5%, Farmers ,Baluchistan 2%, Farmers WFP 6%, Farmers Sindh 11%, Farmers Punjab 24%, Non-farm elf-Employed 17%, Non-farm Other 35%. Access to land is highly skewed: only 37 percent of rural households own land; 61 percent of these own less than 5 (15 percent of total land).

Pakistan has the highest number of out-of-school children in South Asia, with over 8 million of the almost 20 million school-age children out of school (UNESCO, “Children out of School”). Literacy rates in Pakistan have increased gradually over the past decades from 18.4 percent in 1961 to about 44 percent according to the 1998 population census results. This percentage increased from 27 to 55 for males, and for females from as low as 8 to 32 during the same period

Government of Pakistan spent about Rs.1332 billion to reduce the poverty. And as a result poverty reduced from 39.26 to 28.10 percent (rural) and from 22.69 to 14.9 percent (urban). By having a close look at the facts it is revealed that although a heavy amount has been spent on poverty reduction but the attained results are not up to the mark as poverty percentage stands quite high.

If humanity acted with resolution it is still possible to stabilise global population around 8.5 billion by the middle of the century. China and Iran are the two most conspicuous cases of successful population policies, and instead of criticising China for its somewhat brutal one-child policy, we should praise it for its courage to have done so. Imagine China with a population of 2 billion towards of this century.

In the last decade, however, In the last decade, however, contraceptive use has more than doubled, from 11.9% in 1990–91 (National Institute of Statistics and IRD/Macro International 1992) to 27.6% in2000–01 (Hakim et al. 2001), contraceptive use in 2001-2008 is 32% in Pakistan.and there are signs that fertility rates are also falling . Why is the contraceptive prevalence rate in Pakistan only 23.9, why aren’t the people of Pakistan using these methods when their immediate neighbours, India and Bangladesh are slowly and steadily increasing their contraceptive rates.

The Ministry of Health’s programme – the National Programme of Family Planning and Primary Health Care, commonly referred to as the Lady Health Worker Programme (LHWP) – was launched under the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1993–98). In health sector People in Pakistan's health indicators are among the worst in the world.
As a result, Pakistan's population growth rate fell from 3.7%/ year in 1990 to 1.8% in 2006 .

Internal migration depicts significant relocation of the population mainly from rural to urban areas: about 32 percent of the rural population has moved to urban areas. This also affects interprovincial spatial relocation whereby 60 percent of internal migrants originated in the Punjab and 67 percent in the NWFP, and Sindh received the majority of these migrants. Pakistan is the most urban country in South Asia : 24% of the urban growth can be attributed to migration, while the overall natural increase in urban areas remains 2.6%. This trend poses daunting challenges for housing, environment and employment. International migration with influx of Bangladeshis, 2 to 3 million ther illegal entrants, and 7 million Afghan refugees, amounts to additional strains on overstretched resources.

There is an urgent need to educate women about emergency contraceptives with emphasis on available methods and correct timing of use. The Total Fertility Rates (TFRs) of some Arab countries, notably Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon are either below or very close to the stability level of 2.1 children per woman. Algeria and Morocco are at 2.4 and dropping fast. Some other Islamic countries are also in this zone of population stability or decline, including Turkey (2.1) and Indonesia (2.29)

Indonesia, with the largest Muslim population of any country in the world (190 million), has had one of the most successful population stabilisation programmes.In October 1983, almost 22 years ago, a national conference of the Ulama (local-level religious leaders), passed a resolution stating, "Islamic teachings justify family planning for the betterment of health conditions of mother and child, to make the child healthy, intelligent and devout".the annual population growth rate is a manageable 1.4% a year (India's is close to 2%)

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the new fundamentalist leaders dismantled the country's earlier family planning programme and introduced pro-natalist policies. They soon realised their mistake, as the population rate soared, increasing by almost 40% in a decade. The sudden increase in the population led to a rethinking of policy: between 1976 and 1986 the population went up from 34 million to 49 million. In December 1989, the family planning programme was revived with the support of religious leaders. Population growth dropped from 3.2 per cent to 1.2 per cent by 2001 In the late 1980s, they made an abrupt about-turn, promoting modern methods of contraception, including the pill, IUDs and condoms.

Muslim country, sterilisation techniques are accepted forms of birth control. Reversal of vasectomy is also available and has a success rate of 80 per cent. The leaders of Iran have shown that it can take difficult decisions, reversing old traditions in matters that are beneficial to the people.

Tunisia, another almost wholly Islamic country, has a successful family planning programme which goes back to the mid-1970s. It is the only Islamic nation where polygamy - having more than one wife - is banned by law.

Morocco's Total Fertility Rates: 5.6 in 1979, 2.5 in 2003 In the last 10 years, Morocco's annual population growth rate has come down from 1.9% to 1.6% and the fertility rate of women (the average number of children women have) from almost four to under three"

Mexico has made. In 1970, a few years before Mexico initiated its national family planning program -- with significant assistance from the United States and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- less than a quarter of women used contraceptives, average fertility rates were about seven children per woman, infant mortality rates were 69.0 per 1,000 live births, and average life expectancy was 62 years of age.

By contrast, today two-thirds of Mexican women use contraceptives, average fertility rates are 2.2 children per woman, infant mortality rates are 20.5 per 1,000 live births, and average life expectancy is 75 years of age.

Bangladesh, Turkey and Egypt are two others - where family planning is widely practised, using modern methods of contraception, including sterilisation. Abortion, admittedly, remains a controversial area, but some of these countries permit it if the health of the woman is in danger.

Investments in health care services, including those related to sexual and reproductive ealth, can make valuable contributions to wider development goals. The cost to avert an unwanted birth in a typical low-fertility Latin American country was estimated at $133, and savings at $1,600—meaning that each dollar spent on family planning saved the government $12 in health and education costs alone.

A study in Vietnam found that over time every dollar invested infamily planning would save about $8 in health, education and other social services.

every dollar invested in Thailand’s family planning program saved the government more than $16-$21.Even more dramatic, an analysis in Egypt found that every dollar invested in family planning saved the government $31.22 This projection included government
expenditures on education, food, health, housing, and water and sewage services.

Bangladesh's population growth rate: 3.0%/ year in 1973; 1.6%/ year in 1999. Today, the average woman in Bangladesh has 3 children compared to 6-7 children 30 years ago. The total fertility rate has dropped by half since 1975


It estimated that family planning services would cost $15–150 for each DALY saved; prenatal and delivery care $30–250 per DALY saved; STI/HIV prevention $1–250 per DALY saved; and prevention of breast and cervical cancer, $50–100 for each DALY saved. By comparison, the cost per DALY saved on other health interventions
ranged from $5-20 for preventing deficiencies in iron, vitamin A or iodine, to $5–250 for prevention of malaria, to $1,600–3,500 for environmental control of dengue.

Treatment generally costs much more than prevention—for example, prevention of cervical cancer costs $100 per DALY saved, but treatment costs $2,500 per DALY saved. Preventing cardiovascular conditions costs $150 per DALY saved, treatment $2,000–30,000

Estimates of the cost (in 2009dollars) for a woman’s first visit to obtain oral contraceptives average about $8.00: $1.00 for drugs and supplies, $0.50 for labor, $6.50 for overhead (including capital). Delivery costs for an uncomplicated vaginal birth average about $28.00: $5.00 for drugs and supplies, $6.00 for labor, $11.00 for overhead (including capital) and $6.00 for the hospital stay.

The estimated global total cost for prevention and treatment rises from $3.2 billion
in 2001 to $10.5 billion in 2005 to $15 billion in 2007. The largest share (around 50% of the total) is for AIDS care and treatment, followed by HIV/AIDS prevention (about 44% of the total). A much smaller share (about 9% in 2008 and 12%, or $1222 million, in
2007) would provide care for children orphaned by AIDS

Each year, 3.02 million persons add to the population of Pakistan. With current growth rate of 2.2 percent, Pakistan's population will double in next 32 years. High Total Fertility Rate (4.0) and lower literacy rate (35%) among females are major obstacles to sustainable development. Fifty percent of Pakistan's population is forced to live in one-room houses. Over one third of women, with three children in Pakistan, do not look forward to another pregnancy. Nevertheless, they get pregnant because they do not have access to reproductive health facilities.Low per capita income (US$ 753). Forests in Pakistan occupy only 4% of the total area.Pakistan is an agricultural country but per capita arable land is shrinking due to higher pressure on land. In 1951-52, per capita agricultural holding was 1.1 acres due to higher pressure on land which reduced to 0.5 acres in 1977. Slowdown in population growth rate, wider coverage of reproductive health services, education of women, and effective steps to eradicate poverty are prerequisites for sustainable development in Pakistan.

However, because of the absence of a coherent approach to overcome the social and cultural obstacles to the use of family planning in conjunction with poor service delivery and outreach activities; ineffective information, education and communication campaign; frequent changes in the organisational set up of the programme; inefficient management and lack of political commitment to family planning, the programme failed to achieve tangible success.

The only way out of the present stagnation is to merge the ministries of population and health,. "This has been suggested for years. An FP package should be offered as part of a total MNCH package of services.”

"There is no need for a Ministry of Population. If a woman comes for child immunisation, take that opportunity to counsel her on spacing her pregnancies; invest all the money that comes under FP in female education. FP is not a passive activity. A woman has to be fully aware and take responsibility, but she cannot do this unless she is educated,”
"I do not think that any of the crises we are facing today – whether it is the food crisis, the water crisis, the financial crisis or the crisis of climate change – can be managed unless greater attention is paid to population issues,"
Part will be soon published about conclusion and other factors.
Usman karim based in Lahore lmno25@hotmail.com

 

[Omar1984]

A solution to this problem is to develop the least populated province (which is also the largest by size).

Once that province is developed, people from all across Pakistan would love to work there and make a living as they do in Punjab or Sindh.

Another solution is to provide education for all girls and women. Statistics show those women who are career oriented marry later and have fewer children than non-career oriented women.

 

[Comet]

Also, creating new cities shall boost our economy. New Cities in Balochistan and other places where there is good infrastructure will encourage foreign investment.

 

[greatsequence]

Population control is a flop idea which has flopped all over the world. Population is most powerful resource. Population curbing programs are in fact nothing more than distracting people from real problems and an inability to govern manage and make use of this asset in a proper way.

 

[SinoIndusFriendship]

People living in deserts, in areas with lack of food/water, or over-populated areas where land cannot sustain them MUST NOT be producing like rabbits! It's simple as that. You don't curb the reproduction rate yourself, then mother nature will take care of it for you! And that means massive famine and drought, leading to massive deaths and riots and fighting. China has realized this, as many other nations (such as Viet Nam, Mexico, etc). The Arab mentality and Indian false belief of leveraging a massive population to spread their dominance into other countries is frightening. Let me ask everyone this: Okay, now you've successfully invaded neighboring lands and populated them with your people, what will you do next?! How will you ensure their future survival?! Or will you just continue to invade the next country until you've dominated the entire planet, and then nature will cull you?!

Please, be responsible!

 

[usman_1112]

can we ask Ministry of family planning why they wasted billion of rupees and at least $4 billion dollars loan which along interest increased,1st USAAID than CIDA ,japan ,now WB IS GIVING LOAN TO CONTROL POPULATIONS of pakistan.are we going to sustain or we are going 4 famine war and epidemic.we must think what we have to do?

 

[Jabar 1]

One word " Education " that is what we lack in.

 

[Hutchroy]

Much of the global burden of disease is due to sexual and reproductive ill health.
"A combination of factors like non-availability of services, baseless traditional beliefs and misconception play a big role.” Everything depends on population: the economy, security, progress, values, culture.

Most of classic Economist as well as subsequent theorist based their theories on Malthusians theory .According to theory pressure of population brought down the wages to subsistence level and there was a constant fear of positive checks(faimine,war,and epidemics) .If preventive checks(celibacy,abstinence,and later marriage) were not applied.

Pakistan population grew from nearly 33 million in 1947 to about 180.8 million to date--an increase of over five times since the year of independence. Continued rapid growth in population has ranked Pakistan seventh in world and the third biggest contributor to world population growthIt was estimated as 146 million in mid-2002, (Source: Population Census Organization, 1998 Census Report of Pakistan and Economic Survey 2001-02).

In 1950 Pakistan had a population of 37 million and was the world's 13th largest country. By 2007 it was the sixth largest country with 164 million people. Pakistan population was 144 million people in 2000.In 2008 PAKISTAN population is 180.8 million ,In 2020 -336 million, 2040-446 million, 2060-550 million populations will be expecting by Pakistan. Is population boom is crisis or a blessing as a result of economy growth?

Pakistan is the world’s seventh-most populous country, with a population density of over 226 people/ km². Most of the population is concentrated in the plains surrounding the Indus River and its tributaries. The country has a moderate youth bulge; the average age is 21 and over 37% of Pakistanis are under 15 years of age.

Sexuality and reproduction are…fundamental to personal identity and fulfillment, and to Family and social relationships. Sexual and reproductive health services help individuals
And societies achieve a range of social and economic goals.

32% of girls are married before 18 years of age from 1998-2007 (UNICEF), 33% Unmet need for family planning (PRB), Current total fertility rate: 4.0 (PRB) Pakistan’s total fertility rate (average number of children born by a woman in her lifetime) has declined in the past few decades. UNICEF estimated the total fertility rate at 6.3 in 1990 and 3.5 in 2007. The Population Reference Bureau estimates the current TFR at 4.0 (2009).

The TFR in rural areas (4.5 births) is considerably higher than the rate in urban areas (3.3 births). despite the decline in fertility rate, women in Pakistan have more children than those in the neighbouring countries like India where TFR is 2.7, Bangladesh 3.0 and Nepal 3.1.

Each year almost 400,000 infants and 16,500 mothers die from pregnancy- related causes. The infant mortality rate (75 deaths per 1,000 live births) is way above the world average of 52 deaths, and in more developed countries this rate is around 6 deaths (PRB, “Pakistan Still Falls Short of Millennium Development Goals…&#8221.


Pakistan launched one of the first population control programmes in the 1950s, yet has lagged far behind other countries in effectively implementing or developing its understanding of population programmes. When Pakistan launched its national population programme in 1965 it was one of the first countries to take this ambitious step. Yet 46 years later, the programme is remarkable for its lack of impact on contraceptive Prevalence and fertility reduction, not for its achievements.

Government economists and academics from Harvard University, who assisted the Planning Commission in designing both the First (1955-60) and Second (1960-65) Five Year Plans, urged the government to recognize that even a 1.4% rate of population growth was a threat to economic progress. Ayub Khan took serious note of these early warnings but found him frustrated in his search for a quick solution.

The population sector has suffered because of this problem, more so since 1976 when the Programme was fully federalized. In 1979 UNFPA suggested provincialization as the first step in the transition towards the full integration of population with health, which was already the responsibility of the provinces

The Muslim world has one of the world's highest rates of population growth if not the highest. This is causing increasing human pressures upon a region of the globe that has suffered from millennia of abuse and degradation. Perhaps for this region, the Muslim world has been involved in more armed conflicts (mainly along the interface between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds) than any other region of the world. (Africa has a similar rate of population growth and a similar number of armed conflicts.). Of the 10 countries that achieved the fastest reduction in the total fertility rate between 1980 and 1999, eight were Islamic countries

There is a well-known story about how a society stabilizes its population. As a country transitions from poverty to affluence, birthrates plunge—from six or eight children per woman to just about two. Population growth levels off. Prosperity and education, the story goes, are just about the best form of birth control there is. But this tale gets it backward. Low birthrates aren’t a consequence of national wealth; rather, they’re needed to create it. Soaring unemployment, endemic poverty, and flailing schools are quite simply impossible to combat when every year adds more and more people.

Economic Development in Low-Income Countries. It argued that population control would allow families to accumulate more money for investment and thereby solve the problem of insufficient capital in poor countries

Family Planning Scheme for Pakistan during Third Five-Year Plan, 1965-1970 Prevent 5-6 million births in next 5 years. Reduce annual birth rate from 50 to 40 per 1000 by 1970.Cover all 20 million fertile couples with services by 1970.main objective was, Maintain present and planned level of increase in per capita income. Obtain self-sufficiency in food, avoid imbalance in age structure of population. . Full-time staff included 1392 Family Planning Officers, 1200 Lady Family Planning Visitors, and 1209 Family Planning Assistants. Among the part-time staff were 25 000 traditional birth attendants, village 'dais' (Traditional Birth Attendants) were employed (one 'dai' for two villages), who earned referral fees for clients they brought in (Ministry of Health 1965). Usa aid it had spent over $30 million on Pakistan's population programme; during 1965-75 US AID provided 40% of total programme inputs.

In 1965 The annual crude birth rate was around 45 per thousand and death rate was around about 18 per thousand and net growth rate was 2.7% per annum. Annual crude birth rate was around 45 per thousand and death rate was around about 18 per thousand and net growth rate was 2.7% per annum.

Family Planning Scheme for Pakistan during (1970-1977) Reduce birth rate from 45/1000 to 40/1000 (in original Fourth Plan, 1970-1975) 34% of married women will practice effective contraception by 1975. 9.6 million births prevented.Main Objective was Maintain a growth rate in GNP higher than population growth.Rapidly reduce fertility. 1972 Census were made public; they revealed that Pakistan's poulation had grown from 43 million in 1961 to 65 million, and fertility levels remained Unchanged. In late December 1971, the population was estimated at 65.2 million.

Following Zia ul-Haq's coup d'état in 1977, government population planning efforts were almost halted. In 1980 the Population Division, formerly under the direction of a minister of state, was renamed the Population Welfare Division and transferred to the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development. This agency was charged with the delivery of both family planning services and maternal and child health care. The population by 1980 had exceeded 84 million

Family Planning Scheme for Pakistan during (1983-1987) Zia froze the population programme when he first assumed power in 1977. One stated reason for his decision stemmed from the widespread belief that Bhutto had used PPP workers as field motivators. Reduce birth rate from 40.3 to 37.3/1000 by 1987.Increase contraceptive
prevalence rate from 9.5% to 18.6% by 1988.Reduce rate of growth from 2.87 to 2.69 by 1987.If above achieved, then 0.5 million births will be prevented per year by 1987-88 (Sixth Plan)

In preparing the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1983-88), the government projected a national population of 147 million in the year 2000 if the growth rate were to be a constant at 2.8 percent per year, and of 134 million if the rate were to decline to the desired 2.1 percent per year by then

By the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1988-93) period, the multipronged approach initiated in the 1980s had increased international donor assistance and had begun to enlist local NGOs.

Modifications of the multi-sectoral approach during Seventh and Eighth Five-Year Plans1988-1998). Seventh Plan 1987-1993 Lower crude birth rate from 42.3 to 38/1000 ncrease contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) from 12.9% to 23.5% .Prevent 3.17 million births Accelerated Programme 1991: Eighth Plan 1993-1998 Raise CPR from 14% to 9%.Reduce total fertility from 5.9 to 5.4. Reduce crude birth rate from 39 to 35/1000 revent 4.66 million births Reduce population growth rate from 2.9% to 2.6%.
Objectives Increase in child survival will help reduce fertility Overcome inadequacies in service availability and involvement of other Government sectors. two child polices was introduced in that plan.

8th plan 1998-2003 aims at reducing Growth Rate from 2.4% to 1.9%, Total Fertility Rate from 5.2% to 4.2% and to increase Contraceptive Prevalence Rate from 24.4% to 40.3%. Total population 146 m 2002 Economic Survey, 2001-2002,

Budgetary allocation and expenditure on Family Planning Programme by Five-Year Plan Period, 1955-2011.
(1)1955-60, Allocation 0.5 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees), % foreign ssistance to expenditure o, Utilization % -
(2)1960-65, 30.5, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 19 , % foreign assistance to expenditure 60, Utilization % 62.29
(3) 1965-1970 , Allocation 284 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 356 % foreign Assistance to expenditure 18, Utilization % -125
(4) 1970-1978, Allocation 1028.8 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 833.9, % foreign Assistance to expenditure 51.3, Utilization % -81.1.

(5) 1978-83, Allocation 1800 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 617, % foreign ssistance to expenditure 18.8, Utilization % 75.
(6) 1983-88 Allocation ,2300 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 1686.3, % foreign
Assistance to expenditure 52.6, Utilization % 82.
(7)1988-93, Allocation 3555 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 3172.485, % foreignAssistance to expenditure 38.6, Utilization % 104.
(8)1993-1998, Allocation 9000 million, Expenditure (in Millions rupees) 8400, % foreign ssistance to expenditure 26, Utilization % 92.
(9) An amount of Rs.8140 million has been so far allocated for Population Welfare Program during 1998-2002 as against plan provision of Rs.15625 million. The allocation against plan provision comes to 52% only. An amount of Rs.4182 million has been proposed for the year 2002-2003 to establish the service delivery infrastructure which could not be established during the years of the 9th Plan.

(10) PSDP 2002-2003, 3200.0 allocation, propsed-4200 millions rupees.
(11) PSDP 2003-2004 ,Allocation,3700 million,Propsed-4809 millions rupees.
(12) 2004-2011-allocation,29680.1,Propsed-61207.1 million rupees.
(13)PSDP2001-2011 Funds allocation 71941-5,Propsed-71941.4 millions rupees, Resource Gap-32760.9 million rupees.

The largest amount earmarked for family planning since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo was in 1995, with US$723 million committed, remaining above $600 million for all but one year to 1999. The latest estimate, for 2007, is about $338 million

Poverty Trends in Pakistan and Urban-Rural Areas:1990-91 to 1998-2008.
1992-93 total , 24.9,Urban 19.8 ,Rural,27.0. 1993-94,total, 27.7,urban,15.2,rural,33.0
1996-97,total,24.5,Urban14.8,rural,28.7.1998-99-total,30.6,urban,20.9.rural,34.7,1999-2000,Total,35.2,urban,31.7,rural,39.2.

Percentage of population living below the poverty line has fallen from 34.46 percent in 2001 to 23.9 percent in 2004-05, a decline of 10.6 percentage points. In absolute numbers the count of poor persons has fallen from 49.23 million in 2001 to 36.45 million in 2004-05. The percentage of population living below the poverty line in rural areas has declined from 39.26 percent to 28.10 percent while those in urban areas, has declined from 22.69 percent 14.9 percent. In other words, rural poverty has declined by 11.16 percentage points and urban poverty is reduced by 7.79 percentage points

The WB validated the decline in poverty from 22.3 per cent in 2005-06 to 17.2 per cent on the basis of the data collected in 2007-8 under the Household Income Expenditure Survey (HIES). The latest survey found that poverty in the urban areas stood at 10.10 per cent and in the rural areas, it stood at 20.60 per cent. PC’s own panel of economists, led by renowned economist Dr Hafeez A Pasha, had estimated poverty in the range of 37.5 per cent just a few months back.

Almost 74% of the population lives below $2 per day (UNDP,“Human Development Report&#8221 with 31% below the poverty line of $1 per day (PRB). Due to increased food prices and poor access to affordable health care, progress in reducing poverty has been set back seven years (WHO, “Impact of Food Crisis on Health).

Rural poor, Agricultural Laborers 5%, Farmers ,Baluchistan 2%, Farmers WFP 6%, Farmers Sindh 11%, Farmers Punjab 24%, Non-farm elf-Employed 17%, Non-farm Other 35%. Access to land is highly skewed: only 37 percent of rural households own land; 61 percent of these own less than 5 (15 percent of total land).

Pakistan has the highest number of out-of-school children in South Asia, with over 8 million of the almost 20 million school-age children out of school (UNESCO, “Children out of School&#8221. Literacy rates in Pakistan have increased gradually over the past decades from 18.4 percent in 1961 to about 44 percent according to the 1998 population census results. This percentage increased from 27 to 55 for males, and for females from as low as 8 to 32 during the same period

Government of Pakistan spent about Rs.1332 billion to reduce the poverty. And as a result poverty reduced from 39.26 to 28.10 percent (rural) and from 22.69 to 14.9 percent (urban). By having a close look at the facts it is revealed that although a heavy amount has been spent on poverty reduction but the attained results are not up to the mark as poverty percentage stands quite high.

If humanity acted with resolution it is still possible to stabilise global population around 8.5 billion by the middle of the century. China and Iran are the two most conspicuous cases of successful population policies, and instead of criticising China for its somewhat brutal one-child policy, we should praise it for its courage to have done so. Imagine China with a population of 2 billion towards of this century.

In the last decade, however, In the last decade, however, contraceptive use has more than doubled, from 11.9% in 1990–91 (National Institute of Statistics and IRD/Macro International 1992) to 27.6% in2000–01 (Hakim et al. 2001), contraceptive use in 2001-2008 is 32% in Pakistan.and there are signs that fertility rates are also falling . Why is the contraceptive prevalence rate in Pakistan only 23.9, why aren’t the people of Pakistan using these methods when their immediate neighbours, India and Bangladesh are slowly and steadily increasing their contraceptive rates.

The Ministry of Health’s programme – the National Programme of Family Planning and Primary Health Care, commonly referred to as the Lady Health Worker Programme (LHWP) – was launched under the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1993–98). In health sector People in Pakistan's health indicators are among the worst in the world.
As a result, Pakistan's population growth rate fell from 3.7%/ year in 1990 to 1.8% in 2006 .

Internal migration depicts significant relocation of the population mainly from rural to urban areas: about 32 percent of the rural population has moved to urban areas. This also affects interprovincial spatial relocation whereby 60 percent of internal migrants originated in the Punjab and 67 percent in the NWFP, and Sindh received the majority of these migrants. Pakistan is the most urban country in South Asia : 24% of the urban growth can be attributed to migration, while the overall natural increase in urban areas remains 2.6%. This trend poses daunting challenges for housing, environment and employment. International migration with influx of Bangladeshis, 2 to 3 million ther illegal entrants, and 7 million Afghan refugees, amounts to additional strains on overstretched resources.

There is an urgent need to educate women about emergency contraceptives with emphasis on available methods and correct timing of use. The Total Fertility Rates (TFRs) of some Arab countries, notably Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon are either below or very close to the stability level of 2.1 children per woman. Algeria and Morocco are at 2.4 and dropping fast. Some other Islamic countries are also in this zone of population stability or decline, including Turkey (2.1) and Indonesia (2.29)

Indonesia, with the largest Muslim population of any country in the world (190 million), has had one of the most successful population stabilisation programmes.In October 1983, almost 22 years ago, a national conference of the Ulama (local-level religious leaders), passed a resolution stating, "Islamic teachings justify family planning for the betterment of health conditions of mother and child, to make the child healthy, intelligent and devout".the annual population growth rate is a manageable 1.4% a year (India's is close to 2%)

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the new fundamentalist leaders dismantled the country's earlier family planning programme and introduced pro-natalist policies. They soon realised their mistake, as the population rate soared, increasing by almost 40% in a decade. The sudden increase in the population led to a rethinking of policy: between 1976 and 1986 the population went up from 34 million to 49 million. In December 1989, the family planning programme was revived with the support of religious leaders. Population growth dropped from 3.2 per cent to 1.2 per cent by 2001 In the late 1980s, they made an abrupt about-turn, promoting modern methods of contraception, including the pill, IUDs and condoms.

Muslim country, sterilisation techniques are accepted forms of birth control. Reversal of vasectomy is also available and has a success rate of 80 per cent. The leaders of Iran have shown that it can take difficult decisions, reversing old traditions in matters that are beneficial to the people.

Tunisia, another almost wholly Islamic country, has a successful family planning programme which goes back to the mid-1970s. It is the only Islamic nation where polygamy - having more than one wife - is banned by law.

Morocco's Total Fertility Rates: 5.6 in 1979, 2.5 in 2003 In the last 10 years, Morocco's annual population growth rate has come down from 1.9% to 1.6% and the fertility rate of women (the average number of children women have) from almost four to under three"

Mexico has made. In 1970, a few years before Mexico initiated its national family planning program -- with significant assistance from the United States and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- less than a quarter of women used contraceptives, average fertility rates were about seven children per woman, infant mortality rates were 69.0 per 1,000 live births, and average life expectancy was 62 years of age.

By contrast, today two-thirds of Mexican women use contraceptives, average fertility rates are 2.2 children per woman, infant mortality rates are 20.5 per 1,000 live births, and average life expectancy is 75 years of age.

Bangladesh, Turkey and Egypt are two others - where family planning is widely practised, using modern methods of contraception, including sterilisation. Abortion, admittedly, remains a controversial area, but some of these countries permit it if the health of the woman is in danger.

Investments in health care services, including those related to sexual and reproductive ealth, can make valuable contributions to wider development goals. The cost to avert an unwanted birth in a typical low-fertility Latin American country was estimated at $133, and savings at $1,600—meaning that each dollar spent on family planning saved the government $12 in health and education costs alone.

A study in Vietnam found that over time every dollar invested infamily planning would save about $8 in health, education and other social services.

every dollar invested in Thailand’s family planning program saved the government more than $16-$21.Even more dramatic, an analysis in Egypt found that every dollar invested in family planning saved the government $31.22 This projection included government
expenditures on education, food, health, housing, and water and sewage services.

Bangladesh's population growth rate: 3.0%/ year in 1973; 1.6%/ year in 1999. Today, the average woman in Bangladesh has 3 children compared to 6-7 children 30 years ago. The total fertility rate has dropped by half since 1975


It estimated that family planning services would cost $15–150 for each DALY saved; prenatal and delivery care $30–250 per DALY saved; STI/HIV prevention $1–250 per DALY saved; and prevention of breast and cervical cancer, $50–100 for each DALY saved. By comparison, the cost per DALY saved on other health interventions
ranged from $5-20 for preventing deficiencies in iron, vitamin A or iodine, to $5–250 for prevention of malaria, to $1,600–3,500 for environmental control of dengue.

Treatment generally costs much more than prevention—for example, prevention of cervical cancer costs $100 per DALY saved, but treatment costs $2,500 per DALY saved. Preventing cardiovascular conditions costs $150 per DALY saved, treatment $2,000–30,000

Estimates of the cost (in 2009dollars) for a woman’s first visit to obtain oral contraceptives average about $8.00: $1.00 for drugs and supplies, $0.50 for labor, $6.50 for overhead (including capital). Delivery costs for an uncomplicated vaginal birth average about $28.00: $5.00 for drugs and supplies, $6.00 for labor, $11.00 for overhead (including capital) and $6.00 for the hospital stay.

The estimated global total cost for prevention and treatment rises from $3.2 billion
in 2001 to $10.5 billion in 2005 to $15 billion in 2007. The largest share (around 50% of the total) is for AIDS care and treatment, followed by HIV/AIDS prevention (about 44% of the total). A much smaller share (about 9% in 2008 and 12%, or $1222 million, in
2007) would provide care for children orphaned by AIDS

Each year, 3.02 million persons add to the population of Pakistan. With current growth rate of 2.2 percent, Pakistan's population will double in next 32 years. High Total Fertility Rate (4.0) and lower literacy rate (35%) among females are major obstacles to sustainable development. Fifty percent of Pakistan's population is forced to live in one-room houses. Over one third of women, with three children in Pakistan, do not look forward to another pregnancy. Nevertheless, they get pregnant because they do not have access to reproductive health facilities.Low per capita income (US$ 753). Forests in Pakistan occupy only 4% of the total area.Pakistan is an agricultural country but per capita arable land is shrinking due to higher pressure on land. In 1951-52, per capita agricultural holding was 1.1 acres due to higher pressure on land which reduced to 0.5 acres in 1977. Slowdown in population growth rate, wider coverage of reproductive health services, education of women, and effective steps to eradicate poverty are prerequisites for sustainable development in Pakistan.

However, because of the absence of a coherent approach to overcome the social and cultural obstacles to the use of family planning in conjunction with poor service delivery and outreach activities; ineffective information, education and communication campaign; frequent changes in the organisational set up of the programme; inefficient management and lack of political commitment to family planning, the programme failed to achieve tangible success.

The only way out of the present stagnation is to merge the ministries of population and health,. "This has been suggested for years. An FP package should be offered as part of a total MNCH package of services.”

"There is no need for a Ministry of Population. If a woman comes for child immunisation, take that opportunity to counsel her on spacing her pregnancies; invest all the money that comes under FP in female education. FP is not a passive activity. A woman has to be fully aware and take responsibility, but she cannot do this unless she is educated,”
"I do not think that any of the crises we are facing today – whether it is the food crisis, the water crisis, the financial crisis or the crisis of climate change – can be managed unless greater attention is paid to population issues,"
Part will be soon published about conclusion and other factors.
Usman karim based in Lahore lmno25@hotmail.com

Your figure of Pakistan’s Population in 1951 of 37 Million is incorrect.

Please check at the following Link :

PAKISTAN POPULATION : 33,740,167

With reference to your statement : In 2020 -336 million, 2040-446 million, 2060-550 million populations will be expecting by Pakistan. Is population boom is crisis or a blessing as a result of economy growth?

Please check at the following Link :

Crises can’t be solved without population control’

Minister Population Welfare Punjab Neelam Jabbar states as follows :

She said that the world’s population was more than 6 billion currently and it would double by 2050 but Pakistan’s population could double as early as 2024.

Basis her being correct, Pakistan’s Population will have Doubled by 2024 and then Quadrupled by 2039.

If the situation continues then Pakistan’s Population will be about Eight Times today’s i.e. 8 X 180 Million = 1.44 Billion by 2054.

 

[Storm Force]

Pakistanis have traditionally very large famalies even those in the western world stil have the same mindset

 

[BATMAN]

One word " Education " that is what we lack in.

Education in my opinion is not limited to earning degrees.... it comes from parents and society as well. (bad or good is another debate)

IMO, we need to start working on development of child's social awareness and his responsibility towards society and after we should load them with science books.

At the end it is mouse and cat game, I think no system of education can ever work in Pakistan, util some one pound on existing corruption.

 

[SandsofTime]

We are already over our carrying capacity by a large margin. There aren't enough natural resources to satiate the burning hunger of this nation If we want to develop our GDP to that of a developed nation we need to hold the reins here. I believe a population of around 100 million would be optimal for our region. Another thing we can do is to encourage Pakistanis to immigrate to other parts of the world and at the same time spread our culture

Population control is a flop idea which has flopped all over the world. Population is most powerful resource. Population curbing programs are in fact nothing more than distracting people from real problems and an inability to govern manage and make use of this asset in a proper way.

Places that you are referring to did not suffer from a population control programs. The population in Europe and Russia is on the decline because of different reasons. There is problem of an aging population in China and Japan. However, we can overcome these by learning from others experience. We need to improve health care and raise the retirement age so that older people are able to work and contribute to productivity. A tightly controlled and integrated program should be able to achieve the desired results. Rest of the work is to educate the population and turn into powerful resource.

 

[usman_1112]

Hutchory i 'm really sorry yes population of pakistan is 33,740,167 according to Census of pakistan in 1951 ,i will correct it' s ty a lot . but i can send you 10 refernce which coated the population of pakistan was 37 million.
Business & Finance Review
JSTOR: An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie.
Islam itself presents the solution to this problem. In the Holy Quran Allahsubhan talla says, "And mothers should suckle their children for two whole years...". this means that an intervening space of about three years shoul elapse between one pregnancy and other. Pakistan cannot be put on the path to progress unless we change our attitude, control our population and increase our food production.
Lack of awareness or the risks of health to the mother and the child, this problem is further compounded by the low literacy rate of Pakistan.
The annual growth rate of population was 1.8% per annum in 1947.
This increased to 3.2% in 1981 and 3.5% in rest of the eighties, which is one of the highest rates in the world. This high population growth rate is brought about by the high fertility rate and the low mortality rate.average population growth rate was 2.61% per annum; 2.58% for rural area and 4.38% for urban areas. The Crude Birth Rate (CBR), Crude Death Rate (CDR) and infant mortality rates (IMR) are all higher in the rural areas. The high rates reflect the neglect of rural areas where a large proportion of the population is deprived of basic services and amenities (Govt. of Pakistan, 2000). Urban settlements occupy less than 0.75% of Pakistan’s land and contain 43% of its population. imply that the growth rate of urban population 4.38% is higher than that of the rural population (2.58%). In addition to high fertility rate (6.7) and slow mortality rates (85.9), large scale migration from rural to urban areas also contributes significantly to this high growth rate. The urban population was estimated six million in 1947 and 42 million in 1998; about a seven fold increase in 41 years in 2009 42% of population living in cities.. The share of urban population in total population has more than doubled. The number of cities and towns has more than doubled since 1951. Most of the growth occurred in the major cities. Thus, more than half of the urban population lives in the eight major cities.
The human development report (UNO, 1999) notes that the economic activity rate among woman in Pakistan during 1998 was only 14.5%; while in India it was 28%, in Sri Lanka 29%, in Iran 19% and in Bangladesh 6.
According to survey of pakistan in 2006-2007.The participation for female labour force in Pakistan is lowest in South Asia despite increasing to 18.9 per cent in 2005-06 from 15.9 per cent in 2003-04. The South Asian female participation rate is 35-50 per cent.
Human resources play a pivotal role in the development of an economy. The rapid development of several countries can be attributed to the quality of their
human capital which are properly groomed and efficientl utilized in these economics. However, unfortunately this factor has not performed its proper role in developing countries and also in Pakistan. In most of the under
developing countries like Pakistan human capital is wasted rather than being engine of growth.Pakistan, the most challenging issue today is the
high growth rate of population and low quality of labour which is an obstacle rather than being a major source of development of the country.

 

[usman_1112]

According to the 1998 census, about 32.5 percent of Pakistan’s population lives in urban areas. But In 2009 33% of population is living in urban areas.
Housing demand and supply in the Country: Total housing demand 770,000 units per annum The actual supply 500,000 units per annum . Net shortfall 270,000 units per annum .Water supply and sanitation are available to 63 percent and 47 percent of total population in Pakistan.
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan confers on the government the duty to provide food, shelter, clothing, education and health for all its citizens.

Squatter settlements emerged in Pakistan as a result of the migration of refugees from India in 1947. In 1951, 48 per cent of the urban population in Pakistan was from India, most of it living in squatter settlements on government land or on land vacated by the Hindus and Sikhs who had migrated to India.
As of 2006, some 50 million people still practice open defecation in Pakistan, according to the 2006 report of the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) .
The sanitation situation in Pakistan poses serious challenges and demands a change at the household level. Some 45 percent of the rural population defecate in the open (JMP), 60 percent of the total child mortality cases are caused by water and sanitation-related diseases (USAID), and the World Bank Strategic Environmental Assessment for Pakistan estimates the total health costs from water and sanitation related diseases of diarrhea and typhoid at 112 billion rupees, or 1.81 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
In Pakistan, like many countries of the developing world, inadequate quality and coverage of water and sanitation infrastructure is a major issue and is duly reflected in that fact that nearly 30% of reported illnesses and 40% of deaths in Pakistan are attributed to water-borne diseases.
Pakistan is the highest population growth country in the region with average annual growth of 2.3 percent, World Bank’s “world development report for 2009″ revealed Pakistan people has been witnessing an annual population growth of 2.3 ,The population of Nepal grew by 2 percent annually, followed by 1.4 percent of India, 1.0 percent Bangladesh and 0.4 percent Sri Lanka. India was heading in terms of total population with 1,123 million, followed by Pakistan 180.8 million Bangladesh 159 million, Nepal 28 million and Sri Lanka with only 20 million. Pakistan’s per capita income was less than India and Sri Lanka and more relative to Nepal and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka was ahead in per capita income with 1540 dollars followed by India’s 950 dollars. Pakistan per capita income was reported at 840 dollars with Bangladesh’s 470 dollars and Nepal 340 dollars.
About 96 and 92 percent people have access to water and sanitation facilities in urban areas as compared to 89 and 41 percent respectively in rural areas. The growth in urbanisation increased from 33.2 in 2000 to 34.9 percent in 2005 and is projected to go over 39.9 percent of the total population in 2015.

The trend of urbanisation was low in other regional countries and in Sri Lanka it decelerated from 15.7 percent in 2000 to 15.1 percent in 2005 and forecast to reach 15.7 percent by 2015. In Sri Lanka about 98 percent people have access to water and sanitation in rural areas.

India also saw a rise in urbanisation and its urban population increased from 27.7 percent in 2000 to 28.7 percent in 2005 and is expected to reach 32 percent in 2015. About 95 percent in urban areas of India have access to water as compared to 83 percent people of rural areas. Similarly, 59 percent people in urban areas have access to sanitation facilities against 22 percent in rural Indians.

The population in Bangladesh urban cities has increased from 23.2 percent in 2000 to 25.1 percent in 2005 and is projected to grow to 29.9 percent by 2015. 82 percent people in urban cities of Bangladesh have access to water as compared to 51 percent in rural areas. 51 percent people in urban areas of Bangladesh have access to sanitation against 35 percent in rural areas.

The trend of people moving to cities was also seen in Nepal where urban population has increased to 15.8 percent in 2005 from 13.4 percent in 2000 and is anticipated to reach 20.9 percent by 2015. 96 percent people in urban Nepal have access to water facilities against 89 percent in rural while 62 percent population in urban areas has access to sanitation as compared to 30 percent in rural areas.just see the comparsion in south asia,where we are heading for ,we must act and plan to tackle the growing rular and urban gap,otherwise we are going to war, famine,and epidemic which will engulf the whole country,time to act not sit and see..

 

[usman_1112]

40 percent of the urban population lives in Kachi-Abadies/slum areas. Slashing social sector spending is increasing poverty and has reduced the standard of living in the country. Pakistan’s position in human development index is 136 out of 177 countries–even below Maldives and Bhutan in South Asian region.
Pakistan’s poverty rate jumped from 23.9 percent to 37.5 percent in the course of three years after severe economic shocks hit Pakistan, but ******* WB telling poverty in pakistan declined who is telling truth we are do not know.
Officials said that over 64 million people, out of 160 million population, has plunged into the poverty pool. Sharp increase in unemployment has led to vulnerability of poor households. The presentation made by Planning Commission said, “Slow economic growth, sudden external shocks resulted in high inflation and shortages impacting on cost of doing business, and plunged 64 million population bellow the poverty line from 35.5 million people in 2005″.

total allocation of Rs 371 billion of federal public social development program, for 2009-2010 lowest until 2005. This federal level PSDP has already been slashed by Rs 100 billion in addition to envisaged operational shortfall at Rs 77 billion.a major cut as out of Rs 100 billion cut in development spending Rs 79.5 billion was ‘through forward’ from social sector projects, while ‘through forward’ for education sector is Rs 20 billion and for health Rs 39.7 billion.
just to fullfill the obligation To meet IMF 4.2 percent fiscal deficit condition, major cut came on development budget.
Soaring food prices and shortages of staples mean about 77 million of Pakistan’s 160 million people are food insecure, a 44 percent increase over last year, according to U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) estimates.

we are really going where no one is thinking.This would land Pakistan in a situation where it would be missing most of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).this is one benifits of population growth.

 

[Developereo]

Another solution is to provide education for all girls and women. Statistics show those women who are career oriented marry later and have fewer children than non-career oriented women.

Even without career, just empowering women to have equal rights and equal say in the decision to have children will significantly curb the growth rate.