ISLAMABAD: Senator Sherry Rehman has sounded an urgent alarm over what she describes as a full-scale “crisis of scarcity,” warning that Pakistan’s long-ignored threats of unchecked population growth, acute water shortages, and mounting climate pressures have silently but decisively erupted.
Speaking at the Population Summit, she said Pakistan is no longer facing distant dangers but a present and worsening reality in which rapidly rising numbers are overwhelming shrinking national resources. She noted that the population is expanding by six million people every year, a surge that is crippling essential services. She questioned how the country can expect to feed its children, manage overstretched health facilities, or educate 26 million out-of-school students while needing to create three million new jobs annually just to keep pace.
Turning to the water emergency, Senator Rehman said the scarcity once forecast for 2025 has already arrived. With current demographic trends, Pakistan will require an additional 60 million acre-feet of water by 2050 simply to meet basic needs. She warned that consumption now far exceeds available resources, with every drop being contested by millions of new claimants each year.
Citing UNFPA data, she pointed out that the population has reached 241.5 million, making Pakistan the world’s fifth-most populous country, with one of Asia’s highest growth rates at 2.55%. She said the economic consequences are severe, explaining that when population growth surpasses GDP growth, per-capita income suffers. A one percent rise in population growth, she noted, reduces per-capita income by Rs. 35,000 annually, whereas lowering the fertility rate to 2.1 births per woman by 2030 could raise per-capita income by 37%.
She emphasized that women and children carry the heaviest burden. A woman dies every 50 minutes from pregnancy-related complications, 40% of children under five suffer from stunting, and rural women often spend up to nine hours a day fetching water. She stressed that population momentum continues not because of choice, but because millions lack access and agency, pointing to the unmet need for contraception among 17.3% of couples and a contraceptive prevalence rate of only 34%.
Senator Rehman outlined key steps to confront the crisis, including integrating family planning into social protection programs, expanding the Lady Health Worker initiative, eliminating taxes on contraceptives to improve affordability, and ensuring coordinated action across health, education, water, and climate ministries. She also underscored the importance of involving religious scholars to promote responsible parenting and birth spacing, consistent with guidance from the Council of Islamic Ideology.
She concluded that Pakistan can reclaim its future only if it can feed its people, secure clean water, and empower women, stressing that addressing this challenge must become a national priority.
