A United Nations report says Pakistan is among six of the 10 largest countries in the world whose population is projected to exceed 300 million by 2050. Key findings of the ‘World Population Prospects 2015’ released by the UN on Wednesday listed China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and the United States the other five countries to have 300 million population by 2050. Pakistan’s current population has been estimated to be around 190 million. By the year 2030, the population would be 244 million, and by 2100 Pakistan’s population could be 364 million, according to the revised projections made in the report. Among the 10 largest countries, five are in Asia and Pakistan is among them. Other countries are Bangladesh, China, India and Indonesia. During 2015-2050, half of the world’s population growth is expected to be concentrated in nine countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, US, Indonesia and Uganda.Already, with an estimated population hovering around 190m, the country is among the world’s top 10 most populous states. The fact that the population is so large — and that it is going to get even more crowded by the middle of the century — should make our rulers and policymakers urgently take notice.Already, the state is unable to provide for its citizens; what will the situation be like when we hit 300 million souls? Numerous valid questions pop up about how such a huge number of people can be sustained; primarily, how will we feed, educate, house and provide healthcare for all of them?Also, large populations need impressive growth rates in order to create jobs — ensuring such rates is not something the Pakistani state can guarantee.The successive governments have failed to provide millions of Pakistanis a life above the poverty line. Millions of children remain without access to education because extremely poor parents have eight to ten offspring and do not have the means to send them to school. Millions of women do not have access to maternal healthcare and education regarding their health and decisions regarding family planning. Millions of men remain clueless as to how they can improve their quality of lives in a safe and amenable manner, just because there is a lack of awareness and the topic of family planning is a still a social taboo. Today, women are relatively more empowered than before whereas men are more receptive, as the crippling poverty forces them to face alternate solutions. Family planning has always and will remain to be a private and religious matter for most. Hence, certain sensitivity is required to address this problem. Easily accessible contraceptives and information regarding them is an important service that the state should be providing. Government funded incentives for small families will also be an effective tool in controlling the population numbers. It is essential to engage community leaders and ulema so that the cultural barriers that stand in the way of better family planning can be removed. The state should not necessarily be telling people how many children they can have; but it can surely point out the consequences of a rapidly growing population.
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