Population boom driving human crisis, says Maleeha Lodhi

ISLAMABAD:

Dr Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's former permanent representative to the United Nations, has warned that uncontrolled population growth and lack of government attention to the consequential issue was feeding into and exacerbating Pakistan's crisis in human development.

"I believe Pakistan is in the throes of this crisis with far-reaching consequences for its economic development and for the welfare of the people," she said in her keynote address on the first day of the two-day 'Pakistan Population Summit' organised by DawnMedia on Monday.

The summit convened federal ministers, policymakers, experts and development partners to confront Pakistan's rapidly intensifying demographic challenges.

"The crisis in human development is reflected in the fact that almost all indicators of literacy, education, health, poverty, gender disparity and other aspects of human welfare have been deteriorating in recent years," Dr Lodhi said,

Citing the UNDP's latest global Human Development Report of 2025, she said the report puts Pakistan in the 'low' human development category with a rank of 168 out of 193 countries in the Human Development Index.

"This marks a 35-year low. In its 2023 report Pakistan Human Capital Review, the World Bank says Pakistan faces a "silent, deep human capital crisis" which will adversely affect its future economic trajectory."

"Official documents put literacy at 60pc, which means 40pc of our population is illiterate. No country has achieved economic progress with this level of illiteracy," Dr Lodhi said.

Separately, speaking at a panel discussion with PML-N MNA Shaista Pervaiz and former K-P minister Taimur Jhagra, PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain rejected the "myth" that Pakistan, as a Muslim country, struggled to rein in the population growth.

He cited Muslim-majority countries as examples, including Iran, Indonesia and Bangladesh, with "success stories in population".