Growing Population Interconnected With Multiple Threats

Wraa Noor

Islamabad: Pakistan is the world’s fifth-most populous nation, and its 224 million population is projected to reach 338.01 million in 2050 and 403.10 million by 2100, according to the United Nations World Population Prospects 2019.

Pakistan’s population has often been referred to as a ticking time bomb; one that is interconnected with multiple threats, said Ambassador Naghmana A. Hashmi (R).

The country’s population boom has been attributed to a variety of factors. High birth and low mortality rates, poverty and illiteracy, low contraception prevalence and birth control awareness, the custom of child marriage and preference for the son, a lack of public spaces and recreational activities, conflicts and displacements, as well as misinterpretations of religion and unfounded customs, have all played a part.

Pakistan has the lowest contraceptive prevalence rate in South Asia which has stagnated at 35% over the last couple of years: WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that the country has the lowest contraceptive prevalence rate in South Asia which has stagnated at 35 percent over the last couple of years. Moreover, one in five married women in Pakistan is unable to access effective methods of family planning if they want to avoid pregnancy and plan the number and spacing of children.

An estimated 860,000 premature births are recorded each year in Pakistan, of which nearly 102,000 children die due to related complications, according to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Pakistan is ranked second among the top 10 countries that account for nearly two-thirds of all deaths from preterm birth complications.

Pakistan is ranked second among the top 10 countries that account for nearly two-thirds of all deaths from preterm birth complications:UNICEF

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) further stated that Pakistan ran a successful family planning programme between 1993 and 1998, which was instrumental in reducing fertility rates and increasing contraceptive prevalence.

The key element of the programme was the recruitment of trained Lady Health Workers (LHW) to provide primary health care and family planning services to women at the community level. However, from 2000 onward, successive governments’ attention to family planning programmes started to decrease.

Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President Mian Rashid Iqbal stated that the dream of economic development could not be fulfilled without controlling the growing population.

A poor country with limited resources could not bear the expansion in population, further said Mian Rashid, adding that education and awareness are inevitable to control the population.

Serious consequences result from the country’s growing population, including an excessive demand on resources and space, poverty and unemployment, a food shortage and water crisis, housing issues and the expansion of slums, healthcare issues and illiteracy, corruption and poor management, an increase in crimes and conflicts, populism and ethnic tensions, terrorism and radicalization, sanitation issues and deadly diseases, child labour and substandard living conditions, the depletion of natural resources, and environmental degradation.

Without addressing the population challenge, Pakistan will continue to face a phenomenal task in achieving higher ranks on the Human Development Index (HDI). Pakistan is ranked 161 among 192 countries on the HDI.

According to the current statistics, half of the population has no access to basic health facilities and sanitation. 17 million people have no access to clean water, and the proficiency rate remains stagnant at 60 percent.

Pakistan also ranks at the bottom of the Gender Gap Index; the rate of unemployment has increased by 6.5 percent, and 21.9 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

Pakistan is currently in a pivotal period where policies at the individual and national levels must be launched with force and thoroughness. Individually, the public—adults and children—needs to be informed about the negative effects of population growth and the significance of using contraceptives and family planning.

Pakistan should employ an integrated approach to population control through family planning programmes that address both demand-side and supply-side drivers. On the supply side, it needs to increase the outreach and quality of services, while on the demand side, it has to create awareness and the community’s demand for family planning services.

However, population control cannot be solved in a few years but instead calls for decades of work, research and policing. Therefore, on a national level, political parties must coordinate their policies in the hope of defeating this demographic threat so that decision-makers can establish better and more fair chances for everybody.

The establishment of family clinics and raising women’s understanding of their rights are further possible actions. The solutions devised by policymakers need to be comprehensive and integrated if Pakistan is to achieve sustainable progress and prosperity.

The Alarming Concern

The world’s population tripled from 2.5 billion people in 1950 to 8 billion in 2022 and will reach some 9.7 billion people by 2050, according to the United Nations Population Division’s (UNPD) estimates.

Over the past year, the world population officially hit eight billion and India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country: UN

Over the past year, the world population officially hit eight billion and India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country, according to UN. In 1955, there were 2.8 billion people on Earth. Today, that is the population of India and China alone.

By 2050, after India and China, Nigeria is expected to become the world’s third-most populous nation, followed by the United States, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, in that order.

The World Population Day

The United Nations has declared July 11 as World Population Day to draw attention to the urgency and significance of population concerns, including their connections to the environment and human development.

The purpose is to raise public awareness of a variety of population-related issues, including the value of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, and human rights.

Leaders from throughout the world declared in 1968 that it was a fundamental human right for people to choose the number and timing of their children in a free and responsible manner. About 40 years later, modern contraception is still out of reach for millions of women, men, and young people.

Population Day was instituted in 1989 as an outgrowth of the Day of Five Billion, designated by the United Nations Population Fund as the approximate day on which the world population reached five billion, marked on July 11, 1987.

The UN authorised the event as a vehicle to build awareness of population issues and the impact they have on development and the environment.

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