Population growth rate has dropped to 1.8 percent: PM

[Neo]

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Population growth rate has dropped to 1.8 percent: PM :thumbsup:

ISLAMABAD: The population growth rate has dropped to 1.8 percent for the first time in country’s history, said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

“The population growth rate has declined from 3.5 percent in the 80s to 1.8 percent this year and strenuous efforts are still underway to further reduce it to 1.3 percent by 2020,” the prime minister told United Nation Population Fund (UNDFP) Executive Director Dr Thoraya Ahmed Obaid during a meeting on Friday.

He said the government played a vital role in controlling the birth rate through numerous development policies.

He said unplanned population growth adversely impacted development targets and had several negative consequences for the economy, policymaking, human rights situation and the long-term prosperity and progress of the country.

Aziz said in view of the dynamics of demographic variables, the government was keeping a vigilant eye on the population growth trend and trying to attain a balance between resources and population while addressing various population-related issues within the social and cultural norms. He said the most important part of the population control strategy was winning people’s hearts and minds. “The government has launched several campaigns through media to create awareness among people about population control,” he said.

He said the government had adopted a holistic approach in its population policy and enlisted the society’s support including ulemas, teachers, opinion makers and civil society organisations.

He said the government had set up a Population Commission, which was chaired by the prime minister and was represented by all stakeholders, to focus on decreasing population growth rate.

Dr Thoraya Ahmed Obaid commended the progress made by Pakistan in reducing the population growth rate. Dr Thoraya appreciated the prime minister’s contribution towards the UN reform process. Population Welfare Minister Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain and senior government officials also attended the meeting.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\28\story_28-4-2007_pg11_1

 

[Neo]

May 23, 2007
‘Population to double in 32 years’

By Ihtasham ul Haque

ISLAMABAD, May 22: Pakistan’s rapidly growing population at the rate of two per cent a year will reach 217 million by 2020 and will double in the next 32 years.

A latest official document obtained by Dawn also says that poverty levels have increased in rural areas of the country.

It regretted that poverty and the high rate of population growth rate could not be effectively contained in the country.

“Pakistan is the 7th most populous nation in the world and its 153 million people are growing at the rate of almost two per cent a year. Such a rapidly growing population means greater fragmentation of farmlands, greater competition for water, further pressure on fragile and marginal land and the denudation of natural forests and rangelands,” it added.“A reliable estimate indicates that 48.3 per cent of rangelands are completely degraded.”

Over the past decade, the document said, poverty levels have increased in rural areas while they declined in urban areas.

About one-third of the total households in the country were considered below the poverty line, whereas poverty levels in rural area remained close to 39 per cent.

The document is in contrast with the government’s claim of less than 1.9 per cent population growth rate and ten per cent poverty reduction achieved during the last seven years.

The World Bank and other donor agencies, however, believe that there had been only five per cent poverty alleviation.

“Poor people tend to exploit their limited land resources more intensively to meet immediate needs, even if exploitation compromises the long term stability and viability of the land and its natural resources. Of course, further degradation of land and natural resources leads, in a vicious circle, to even more poverty.”

It said that despite many efforts to address the main causes of land degradation, the process of desertification could not be halted due to several barriers to sustainable land management. These include policy, institutional, financial and socio-economic barriers.

The subsidized electricity tariff (flat rate) has been introduced to encourage farmers to increase agriculture production. This tariff promotes poor use of scare water resources in dry land, especially in Balochistan where farmers do not invest in improving irrigation efficiencies of their tube-wells.

In Balochistan, poor farmers who cannot invest heavy amounts in channelling water flow, low water tables often abandon their lands.

Such land is often left open to free-grazing, removal of existing vegetation for firewood, and removal of top soil for land development at sites where water is available.

Continued unsustainable mining of groundwater and consequent abandonment of land will cause further desertification in dry land areas.

The causes of land degradation in Pakistan include poor irrigation and drainage practices, overgrazing, deforestation, increasing competition for water, drought, migration, intensification of agriculture, flooding, population pressures and persistent poverty.

Furthermore some threats are greater than others in terms of their manifestation. For example, water logging and salinity, because of poor irrigation practices, affects 17 million hectare of land, while deforestation and overgrazing affect 11 and 24 million hectare, respectively.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/23/nat2.htm

 

[Neo]

The report may sound alarm to some but Imho large population can turn out to be a valuable assett if developped properly.
Developped countries are certain to suffer severe labour shortage from 2015 while we have a surplus.

 

[niaz]

The report may sound alarm to some but Imho large population can turn out to be a valuable assett if developped properly.
Developped countries are certain to suffer severe labour shortage from 2015 while we have a surplus.

Living in Europe one would think that as there is negative population growth and continued labour shortage in some developed countries.

For the third world countries, population growth is still a curse. Just image that 1.8% growth in Pakistan means nearly 3-million additonal mouths to feed each year. Remember the Malthusian theory ??

IMO 1.8% is far too much. I am not for negative growth but say a 1% growth is quite achievable if every one agrees a limit of two children per family ( 3 if all girls).