The whole nation should be ready to see the ugly results that we will find out after the census 2017
FAISALABAD: Now that the census is under way, I am beginning to dread the moment when the Federal Bureau of Statistics announces the actual figure of the country’s population.
Two years ago, Pakistan’s estimated population was over 191.71 million, making it the world’s sixth-most-populous country, behind Brazil and ahead of Nigeria. There would be serious consequences and effects of this fast increasing population in terms of poverty, environmental degradation and political stability. Unfortunately, people in our society do not embrace population control due to their belief and faith. They think any birth control programme is against the teachings and injunctions of Islam. Indeed, God has written the moralities and fate of every born baby. However, Islam does not stop to adopt the measures for living a healthy, peaceful and manageable life.
There is no such comprehensive and inclusive population control programme at government level. Despite the fact population control can involve measures that improve people’s lives by giving them greater control of their reproduction, a few programmes, most notably the Chinese government’s one-child per family policy, have resorted to coercive measures. The population of Pakistan in the 2017 census is expected to peak, after which it will decline due to economic reasons, health concerns, land exhaustion and environmental hazards. The whole nation should be ready to see the ugly results that we will find out after the census 2017.
Engineer Mansoor Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2017.
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