Ahsan flags unsustainable population growth

ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday that rapid population growth continued to pose Pakistan’s most serious structural challenge, warning that it was weakening the country’s economic gains and slowing progress in human development.

He made the remarks at the launch of a book titled Impact of Population Growth on Human Security in Pakistan, which is based on a study by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI). According to the minister, Pakistan would find it difficult to secure sustainable development and raise living standards if it failed to bring population growth under control.

Iqbal said the country presented a troubling contrast in its development pattern, with economic indicators nearing those of middle-income states while social indicators remained comparable to those of least developed countries. He said the imbalance had to be addressed for Pakistan to move ahead and identified fast population growth as a central factor behind the gap.

Referring to official trends, the minister said Pakistan had earlier brought its population growth rate down from 3.4 per cent in 1990 to 2.4 per cent by 2017, but the most recent census showed that the rate had risen again to 2.55 per cent.

Speaking about the implications of that trend, Iqbal said countries that achieved lasting development had reduced their population growth rates to about 1 to 1.5 per cent or below. He argued that strong economic performance could lose much of its effect when population growth remained high.