Pakistan is passing through major economic and social issues and problems—unemployment, poverty, food insecurity, hunger, water crisis, gender inequality, malnourishment and undernourishment, illiteracy, injustice or delayed justice, and poor health. These are deep-rooted problems facing Pakistan today. When policymakers try to understand the causes of such problems, they look at every angle deeply, but one major reason that contributes more to these problems—population explosion—remains unnoticed or least noticed or not considered during policy formulation. Due to this ignorance, whatever the reason may be for it, the population is rapidly expanding; consequently, the problems are intensifying, and policymakers are unable to reach a possible solution.
On the basis of population, Pakistan is the 5th largest country in the world, while on the basis of area, it is the 35th biggest country in the world; the population density in Pakistan is 287 per km square. The population growth rate in the country is about 2%, which is the highest in Asia. Resultantly, the Pakistani population contributed 2.83% to the world population. According to the first census of Pakistan, conducted in 1951, the population of Pakistan, both in the west and east wings, was 75 million, of which West Pakistan had a population of 33.7 million. Such a population had doubled in just 20 years and reached 65.3 million as per the 1972 census. The last census conducted in the country was in 2017, and according to such a census, the population has reached 207 million, which means it’s six times greater than that of 1951. Such population growth is an alarming situation for the country.
The cost of such a population is very high; starting with the legal system, there is only one judge for every 300,000 people in Pakistan, compared to one judge for every 10,000 people in affluent nations. Similarly, The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association reports that there are 0.473 doctors for every 1000 people in Pakistan’s population. According to a 2018 report, there are nearly 6000 people for every doctor; according to Pakistan Nursing Council, there is 1 Nurse for 3600 people in Pakistan. In a similar vein, Pakistan has the 9th-lowest student-teacher ratio (Jang report 2019). Pakistan was classified as the second-worst nation in the world for gender inequality (WEF report). In addition, the World Bank reported that Pakistan’s poverty rate was 39.3%, placing Pakistan 92nd out of 116 nations in the Global Hunger Index 2021. Pakistan’s unemployment rate rose from 4.40% in 2020 to 6.50% in 2021, and by the end of 2022, it is predicted to reach 12%. Similar to this, a severe water shortage affects nearly 80% of the nation’s population. Of the 17 states with a high water risk, Pakistan came in at number 14.
There are multiple reasons that are responsible for the rapidly growing population in the country—lower contraceptive prevalence usage; contraceptive usage rate in Pakistan is 34.5 % which is extremely low in Asia; in Iran, it is 77.4%, in Turkey it is 73.5% and in Bangladesh, it is 72.4 percent. Another reason is the high fertility rate; the fertility rate in Pakistan is 3.454% which is the highest in south Asia. In a similar vein, there is no proper family planning; only 34% of women use family planning. Apart from the above, Child marriage is another leading cause of the growing population; According to UNICEF, 21% of Pakistani girls are married before the age of 18. In addition to it, poverty and lack of education are other major problems that result in sun preference problems. Similarly, a high infant mortality rate and high child mortality rate compel parents to birth more and more children.
Such population growth has a negative effect on the state. Pakistan ranks 154th in the Human Development Index 2020, which highlights the low level of human resource development that results from the state’s rapidly expanding population. The citizens’ health and education are at risk as a result. Similar to this population growth adds to the trend of urbanization, large cities across the country are experiencing issues with housing, sewage, and sanitation. Likewise, the UN estimates that 50% of Pakistan’s population lacks access to sufficient food. Additionally, the prevalence of child labor is rising, with Pakistan being among the top 20 nations with the highest ratio of child labor.
Where is the state and what does it do to control the population? It is the duty of the state to control its population according to its capacity, but unfortunately, policymakers are busy blaming games and other non-serious issues. People are mostly unaware of the problem resultantly the majority of the people do not consider it as a problem. There is a need for a proper ministry to work on the growing population and suggest measures for its control. A well-defined program is required to make people aware of the population problem and to motivate them toward family planning. Furthermore, it is the need of the hour to ensure the proper health of children to remove the fear of a high mortality rate. So it is time to take proper steps before it becomes too late to solve the issue.
The writer is an advocate.
