How Pakistan can harness its growing population

We need to stop treating the symptom and target the disease.

KARACHI: The most alarming long term issue Pakistan faces, which will dilute all our efforts for development, employment generation, education, health services, economic infrastructure, law and order, militancy and food and water resources, is our extremely large and unchecked population growth. The most worrying part is that this growing crisis hardly receives any serious attention officially or privately.

Overpopulation is a global concern. However, the share of developed countries’ share in world population increase over the next forty years is estimated to be negligible. Almost all the three billion increase will come from the poorest countries. Pakisatn is estimated to show the second biggest increase, after India. China, the traditionally highest populated country in the world has managed to curb its population growth with their ‘one family one child’, will be the last of the nine countries that will constitute half of world population in 2050.

The other cause of concern is the fact that even in Pakistan, almost all the growth is and will be in the lowest ‘quality’ of the population ie the poorest and the least educated and the least skilled. South Asia is one of the highest populated regions in the world where Bangladesh has 2,497 persons living on one square mile and Pakistan 575.

There is no dearth of statistics and studies covering overpopulation in the world and individual countries and regions. There is no shortage of solutions either, but there is serious lack of focus on population explosion especially in Pakistan. The simple lesson is that no matter how successful we become in making Pakistan a developed country, the sheer size of increasing numbers will prove to be the yoke. In the meanwhile, we need to devise ways in order to elevate the quality of the population we already have through education and employment. In addition, we need to distribute our population more evenly on the land available. Existing rural hubs need to be developed further, their economy needs to be jump-started so that there is less migration of population towards the already swamped urban areas.

Primarily we need to focus on this issue indigenously, but regional and international cooperation is simply indispensable. Some of the major steps required to curb the adverse consequences of this menace, have to be two pronged; one, control the growth, two, minimising the damage of existing high numbers. Move out of publicity stunts and huge media advertisements to grassroots levels with sustainable and determined efforts and monitoring the annual goals.

Identify the countries that have successfully addressed this issue and emulate their example. Incorporate the significance of reducing our population growth rate at all educational levels, including mosques, and at all the government and private health facilities in the country.

The legal measures, as campaign against child labour are futile because it is like treating a symptom and ignoring the disease.

The WRITER has a background in trading and exports in the private sector

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2012.