ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has given a warning on World Population Day that Pakistan’s rapidly growing population is putting increasing strain on employment, education, healthcare, and housing sectors, and the country stands at the crossroads of choosing whether the country’s population boom will be an asset or liability to the country.
This is the population growth pressure in Pakistan, which has been issued by the Prime Minister in his address commemorating the day, where he has mixed the recognition of the problem with a need for concerted effort by the nation. Pakistan is the fifth largest populated nation in the world, and its annual population growth rate is 2.55%.
Dualism in the Pakistani Youth
In defining the problem of Pakistan’s population growth pressures, the Prime Minister Shehbaz deliberately ensured that he struck the right balance in recognizing the pressure yet not painting Pakistan’s youth as a problem in itself.
“Pakistan’s young population of over 65 percent of the country’s people being under 30 years of age is an asset to our nation.”
PM Shehbaz Sharif
It is a well-known fact in the field of developmental economics that those countries which have invested well in their young generation through education and other means have had a phase of growth in the past as this young generation entered into the workforce and contributed to the country’s growth through innovation.
What Pakistan must do is not to decide whether it should have a young generation. What it needs to decide is whether it should invest well in its young generation or not.
Pressure Building Up in All Systems
The pressure of population growth in Pakistan mentioned by PM Shehbaz encompasses all aspects of public service and economic infrastructure:
- Creation of jobs: the job market has to provide opportunities for millions of people entering it each year, which fail to find enough formal work
- Housing: there is a great shortage of housing in urban centers due to rural-to-urban migration along with the existing population growth in cities lacking infrastructure
- Food security: food production needs to increase constantly because of the annual 2.55 percent population growth
- Public services: education facilities, health care facilities, water supplies, and sanitary systems need to expand constantly just to maintain the present service level
- Urban infrastructure — the infrastructure in cities like Karachi and Lahore suffers due to population growth
- Environment: pressure on natural resources increases due to population growth
National Council on Population – A New Institutional Approach
The Prime Minister made the announcement that the Federal Government has formed the National Council on Population to serve as an intermediary between the federation and the provinces in terms of providing guidelines and implementing the National Population Program.
Key areas of concern of this council will include:
- Incorporating population concerns within the national development program
- Empowerment of women for the proper management of the demography
- Human resource development
The establishment of a dedicated National Council on Population signals that the government recognises the Pakistan population growth pressure challenge requires sustained institutional attention rather than periodic campaign-based responses.
A Coordinated National Call
However, the call made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan in connection with World Population Day did not just target the government; instead, it targeted federal and provincial governments, parliamentarians, development agencies, civil society groups, academia, industry sector, ulema, media, and the local communities in general to make informed decisions, responsible parenthood, and sustainable development.
There Is a Short Window of Opportunity But It Remains Wide Open
Those countries that make the right investments during this demographic window turn their demographics into development. The rest become development burdens for decades to come.
Nayab Fatima is a media professional specializing in fact-based journalism, research, and analytical reporting on technology, telecom, aviation, and automobiles.
