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KARACHI: Due to poor effort by authorities in the field of family planning, Pakistan is bound to face greater challenges by 2030 when it would be the fourth most populous nation of the world, experts said on Monday.
“Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world. If it continues to grow with the same pace, it will be ranked fourth by 2030,” said an expert while speaking at a panel discussion regarding family planning in the country organised by the Dow University of Health Sciences.
Take a look: Climate woes and population
Experts said the country lacked proper family planning, and the government’s measures were not headed in the right direction.
Dr Talib Lashari of Sindh government’s Costed Implementation Plan (CIP), gynaecologist Dr Shershah Syed, Dr Noreen Lalani, Dr Minhaj Qidwai, Prof Lubna Baig, Dr Ashfaq Shah, and Dr Nighat Shah spoke at the event.
Experts said ineffective measures resulted in a decrease in family planning to 34 per cent from 35pc last year.
The participants of the panel discussion stressed on the need for women’s education, adding that due to lack of awareness 35pc of women expired during pregnancy.
They said child death rate is 10pc, which was much higher than that of neighbouring countries. Some 9pc people adopted traditional methods for family planning.
Experts said without proper education of family planning, it was impossible to meet the ambitious targets set out by authorities. They highlighted the issue of early marriages and 80pc rate of teenage pregnancy which was one key factor behind growing population.
Experts added that the absence of women in decision making was one of the key reasons behind poor family planning.
Often, many people did not even bother to plan their families while in developing countries desire to have a male child was yet another cause of overpopulation.
Besides, low-quality services and unavailability of stock of contraceptives led to poor family planning.
Experts said incorrect perceptions and unfounded worries regarding family planning might be significant barriers in controlling the growing population.
They added that due to the population increase, 54pc of infants were born premature who suffered from various health issues afterwards.
However, 75pc of population was aware of family planning among which 50pc were females but no practical implementation on better family planning was properly observed.
“This growth in population results in increased poverty and causes higher mortality rates of mothers and infants than in neighbouring countries. Besides, this also creates hurdles in educational grounds as is evident from the fact that 25 million children are unable to go to school,” said a panellist.
Discussants said as growing population created problems in education and health sectors, it also harmed the country on social grounds.
To achieve targets of family planning, there should be regular workshops and seminars for female students of medical colleges, they said. It would also benefit students of other colleges as well as in this way students would get to know the importance, benefit and advantage of it.
Keeping in consideration importance of midwifery in Pakistan, they said midwives should be trained and provided with the latest equipment.
Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2018
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Comments (94) Closed
Oct 03, 2018 09:20am
I remember during the 90's an advertisement used to come on the TVs on family planning but that was not the right way, an awareness needs to be given to the people of Pakistan which I think is way too difficult at present knowing the social-economic issues that are airing which are the few reasons of this issue that would be the most difficult to handle. There should be planners who should be bought from China to study the form of system they used to economies as such.
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Oct 03, 2018 09:21am
Learn from your bossom friend. Enforce one child policy for 10 years.
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Oct 03, 2018 09:24am
This is Pakistan’s number one problem. Alas, you cannot talk about it!
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Oct 03, 2018 09:53am
" Due to poor effort by authorities in the field of family planning, Pakistan is bound to face greater challenges by 2030. " I have been preaching that for the last six years. _ Why should anyone be concerned? _ Because population growth will erase every economic gain the Pakistan economy makes. This is a certainty. Family planning is politically unpopular, so it never made any headway. Politicians will not emphasize family planning. Pakistan cannot progress at the present rate of population growth. Ignore the warning at your peril. Can Karachi be any more crowded? The answer is yes.
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Oct 03, 2018 09:55am
It is a ticking time bomb that we set off massive unrest among the unemployed.
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Oct 03, 2018 09:59am
@Lost cause - And you don't need any learning with a billion plus?
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Oct 03, 2018 10:14am
@Lost cause - Have you done 'learning' with one billion plus!
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Oct 03, 2018 10:14am
The government does not have the money to feed and educate such a massive population.
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Oct 03, 2018 10:45am
That is not a good thing.
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Oct 03, 2018 10:51am
Maximum 2 should be the policy
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Oct 03, 2018 10:55am
Almost same problem is faced by India, specially among poor & illiterate. Here it is so easy to divide & rule among Hindus & Muslims, both the communities start distributing each other once initiated by politicians.
I trust we should implement law, people having more than 2 kids are not eligible to vote or contest on any political post or get any government assistance.
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Oct 03, 2018 10:58am
How come it will become the fourth most populous country? Pakistan is on 6th now but will overtake Brazil and Indonesia soon, but at the same time Nigeria will go pass Pakistan, so by 2030 Pakistan will be the 5th most populous country. Anyways, the population rate of Pakistan is still very high and more efforts needs to be taken to slow it down.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:11am
India is also facing the increasing population problem. We both country are almost same in poverty, corruption, infrastructure,impurity, corrupted bureaucrats and people. Milawat in foods and vegetables,stray animals in roads and public places etc..Who say we are different people ?. Our patriotism are only for Cricket and independence day. When we will concentrate at our main issues ?
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Oct 03, 2018 11:15am
@Dr. Rafiq Khan no only one
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Oct 03, 2018 11:16am
Waiting for PTI's stance on this most important issue. What is their plan to defuse the population bomb.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:17am
@Sammy but you are talking right now!
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Oct 03, 2018 11:26am
At least Dawn is one news paper highlighting the most pressing issue Pakistan is facing and no one is even talking about it, If this nation continues to grow, where will we all stand. Has any one asked this question,
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Oct 03, 2018 11:29am
Rapid population growth is Pakistan’s major problem leading to insecurity, un employment, lack of education facilities and non-availability of basic health services including issues related to basic provision of other services and utilities. The present rate of Population growth will never allow the economy to cater for the population needs and the dream of welfare state can never be achieved. The existing infrastructure of cities and towns will never be able to meet the ever-growing needs of the expanding housing and urbanization will reduce the Agri land holding thus leading to food security issues including water scarcity issues. No matter how many houses are built, no matter how many explement opportunities are created, there will never be sufficient for the growing needs of the population unless there is a concentrated effort by the government to have and implement population management policy and services. Pakistan needs pay priority attention to tackle this issue
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Oct 03, 2018 11:31am
More population=Ruling the world. Look at india and china
We should encourage to have more children.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:34am
@Prateik Just like India, massive population, rising poverty.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:35am
PTI must make this a top priority. With education, family planning. Encourage one child, maximum two. No more after that.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:37am
Already pakistan have shortage of drinking water. What is going to happen when remaining water runs out? The only way to stop this is to educate al poor people.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:39am
For decades Pakistan has not given proper attention to Family Planning. President Ayub Khan tried to have a strong Family Planning initiative in 1962, but met resistance from certain political parties that prevented him. Lack of jobs, housing, nutrition are all effected by population growth. Still, it is never to late to start to take corrective measures.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:42am
Go back 40 years, when we as a nation realised the issues of huge population and its possible impact on the society. Now, its evident everywhere. All current socio economic issues are directly or indirectly linked to population growth. The demographers warned us way back, but we still discussing the same old issues. The population bomb, as it was referred earlier, has already exploded. And the country is feeling the heat. Now, the increasing population momentum will not halt right away, it need its own natural pace to slow down. So, are we expecting more serious issues in the future? are we leaving behind us, a struggling nation, which is simply not manageable. This is scary and alarming. Immediate need is to get experts/demographers and social scientists to provide the government a road map which is to to be strictly implemented. Otherwise, 30 years down the line, there will be similar seminar expressing the same population issues probably with higher magnitude and more severity.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:43am
Family planning is not the solution.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:43am
Strange in West they are encouraging people to produce more and they want others to use contraceptive to control the population
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Oct 03, 2018 11:47am
By 2030 Population will reach 30 crores. Water availability per capita in Pakistan which is very close to 1000 cubic meters will decrease to 600 cubic meters by 2030.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:48am
@Harmony-1© Indian population growth rate has organically come down to appx 2.somthing. In urban area you just cant afford more then 2 kids. Population growth of muslims is highest in India in all social/ religious/ cultural division, hence education of muslims is important for India.
However on your end growth rate is not stabilizing, let alone reducing. Aggression used in wrong direction only hurts self. Its for your own sake then you think deep.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:49am
Pakistan is already the 5th most populous nation in the world as it overtook Brazil some years ago. Compared Pakistan´s land area as a whole to India (or even Bangladesh), we will still have less people per square meter then India.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:51am
@Prateik There were huge discussions in India too on the massive population and how to feed them - still people are living. Our land area is among the world´s most productive agriculture land in the world and I am sure we will find a way to feed our population as well - if we are able to build dams.
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Oct 03, 2018 11:52am
Think it as positive.It means Pakistan will reduce gap with India from 4 positions to 2 positions. India will be in second place and Pakistan will become 4th then.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:01pm
@Harmony-1© yeah, Check their population growth which is in decreasing trend and also compare both economies as well as the total land area and then you argue !!
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Oct 03, 2018 12:04pm
@Khurram what is the solution?
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Oct 03, 2018 12:17pm
@Harmony-1© yes, see the population growth of last five years.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:19pm
And India will be the fourth largest economy after the US, China, and Japan. Right now, sharing the same honour in position, India as the sixth largest economy and Pakistan as the sixth largest population.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:20pm
@Zak nope, decreasing proverty and decreasing population growth.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:25pm
@Zak So you want to say that India is your role model in population ?
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Oct 03, 2018 12:27pm
Population has a great impact on the national financial, economical, social, cultural, defence, quality food and standard life style, individual and family income and expenses, purchasing power, health, water, environment issues. Unskilled manpower will grow along with the corruption and low morale attitude, also will create mental, physical and psychological problems. 1. Government needs to propose a law that who has more than two kids after 2018 will not be eligible for government jobs and third child and onward will not be eligible for health insurance benefit for government and private jobs. 2. Also, government has a responsibility to provide proper security for female genders and try hard to bring equality among all the genders. 3. Provide jobs and education to all to live a comfortable life. 4. Bring inflation rate down. 5. This is unpopular decision but it's demand of time. Wake up IK before it's too late. It's a burning issue.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:39pm
If you go for one child policy, you will get the oppose from the Islamic ulma, we need to motive people about the
disadvantages of having more tan 2 child family. Government and NGO can play a vital role.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:50pm
We love children.....more the better.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:51pm
Funnny, when family planning man himself has got 7 kids and one coming.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:53pm
India,Pakistan , Bangladesh,China should reduce the population.
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Oct 03, 2018 12:57pm
@Harmony-1© Pakistan is an ideal for some in India.
They follow you.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:08pm
@Zak No one child no two child, adopting child is best possible option currently available for Pakistan and it can be a tool to reduce population and also education from school.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:08pm
@Zak You forgot the fact that despite a higher population, the Indian economy is in a much stronger position and is one of the worlds fastest growing economies in the world.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:14pm
Isn't this an opportunity!!
We should change our perspective, developed nation population is on decline which would help our ever expanding population with different opportunities.
Even in India population ratio is bad as female population is on decline while male are on rise, whereas for development of populations females needs to be more then male.
We should invest in education infrastructure development we can export our talented HR aborod.
Further if you see IQ index according to regional population then our population have better IQ and are quick learners.!!!
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Oct 03, 2018 01:14pm
Rising population will create a bigger market for goods and services and will give a demographic dividend. This will create more jobs and opportunities and the population will be young and productive. GDP will rise and all mouths will be fed. Happened in India and China.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:18pm
CPEC will support and feed all the extra mouths. Nothing to worry about
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Oct 03, 2018 01:22pm
Half of the population have no drinking clean water, our water reserves are not enough to cater the whole nation, our agriculture not producing food items and we are importing to meet the demand. Basic facilities are not available to common person. Unemployment has reached at alarming position. Government have to make solid policies to
curve this issue otherwise our coming nation will not forgive us.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:30pm
@Harmony-1©
I as a Pakistani will answer on behalf of Indians .. I know many indians in the UK and almost every one has two children.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:31pm
@Khurram "Family planning is not the solution." You are correct. The only country where family planning worked is China. But family planning was not a stand alone policy. It was coupled with massive reforms and development policy, in which family planning was a small part. When people see more possibility of better future for their children, they automatically want to maximize the chances with less of them. If a child has 50% chance to succeed, one out of two will have more chance than one alone. If it is less than 50%, the number will increase as well. Population growth is indirectly proportional to the prospect of individual growth. Enforced family planning without development will be perceived as tyranny against the poor to keep them poor. You have to start with development.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:32pm
Educate people to plan family life and everything
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Oct 03, 2018 01:40pm
@Harmony-1©
Yes India's growth rate declined and is at a plateau currently.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:41pm
More population means more human resources. If managed properly in a scientific manner, it's a blessing in disguise. In fact, bigger population is very good and productive for a country, as proved by the great land and people of the People's Republic of China, by becoming a financial super power of the world, the largest exporter and also the second biggest economy of the globe. It's all due to better management of the largest and the most populous country's people, that China, unlike India, has become the new sensational and emerging transnational super-power as well.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:42pm
@Zak
No not like India, India's population growth rate declined and is at a plateau currently.india has lifted more than 200 million people out of poverty and as of now 21%remain in poverty.
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Oct 03, 2018 01:45pm
The need is for Infrastructure Planning and Development, not Family Planning.
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Oct 03, 2018 02:10pm
Once CPEC is operational, all concerns will fly out of the window
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Oct 03, 2018 02:17pm
The exploding population bomb.
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Oct 03, 2018 02:32pm
This may not necessarily be a bad thing, China is now realizing that limiting it population by one child policy is having negative impact.
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Oct 03, 2018 02:56pm
@Markhor Chinese and Indian geographical land masses are big enough to accommodate their populations, as compare to Pakistan,
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Oct 03, 2018 02:59pm
75pc of population was aware of family planning among which 50pc were females.
The above means that Govt need to educate people and one sure way is to go for strong media blitz and advertisements besides education through local health workers.
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Oct 03, 2018 03:02pm
TOP priority for Pakistan's new govt.
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Oct 03, 2018 03:17pm
Human population is strength of nations around the globe. Future belongs to those nations who would have young, educated, skilled manpower. Nations with negative or stagnant population growth are bound to recede.....
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Oct 03, 2018 03:31pm
We need One Child Policy. This does not have to be enforced, However, government can start a support program where parents with one child would be given some social benefits in the form of financial aid, tax rebates etc.
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Oct 03, 2018 03:45pm
@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad , Then why did you leave this beautiful country., please come back and enjoy the prosperity.
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Oct 03, 2018 03:50pm
I think that it is equally important to educate the men of this country regarding female health and pregnancy related care for their wives and for infants. In most families, men are the sole decision makers even when it comes to family planning.
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Oct 03, 2018 04:02pm
For those extolling and lauding population explosions (calling it a dividend and the will of the deity) why don't they invite 10-15 of their impoverished citizens of all ages into their homes and support them for a few years as a pilot project. Their already stressed, and stretched, earnings will collectively put them all in the destitute house as scarce resources are spread even thinner. So if this cannot be done at a micro level (one's home) what makes one think it can sustain at the macro national level? This is ignorance at best, delusion at worst and this pervasive mindset will keep any unwary nation in self-inflicted bondage. The evidence is there for all to see.
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Oct 03, 2018 04:11pm
Rich and middle class tend to have lesser children (2-4) whereas poor class produces more children. Poor parents think of 'economy of scale'. The more children, the more child labor and the more income is their mantra. They believe that greater number of children would prove their old age benefit.
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Oct 03, 2018 04:41pm
This is the most urgent problem to be solved.
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Oct 03, 2018 05:16pm
Food for thought:
When I came to the UK in 1990 for studies, Pak population was around 90-95 million, today it has ballooned to 210-220 million. i.e. it has more than doubled over the past three decades.
UK population in 1990 was 57 million. It is now 65.6 million, so a mere increase of 8 odd million
Apart from limited resources and corruption, out of control population growth problems hamper progress in developing countries
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Oct 03, 2018 05:44pm
The article should be the top-most headline. The fact that it is 9th in a column of 10 articles sums up the problem!
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Oct 03, 2018 06:04pm
To be honest, I would love to see Pakistan as a 300 million nation. That is atlas what we should be aiming at considering the nuclear armed mad neighbor to our east. We have a huge agriculture sector which can be developed further, It sector, tourism, industries...you name it: the potential is huge if our government can end corruption and built dams & power plants.
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Oct 03, 2018 06:45pm
The real problem is that Pakistani leaders are still not talking about this problem. The country needs some Kamal Pasha to straighten things out.
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Oct 03, 2018 08:25pm
Unfortunately it is hard for government to introduce any clear policy regarding family planning.
This nation need education. China did control on population and they are now super power.
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Oct 03, 2018 09:18pm
@PLANETTREKKER Who are you Sir ? These thoughts are too refined for a normal individual
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Oct 04, 2018 01:33am
Pakistan is a large country and it can easily accommodate Six Hundred Million people. There is Plenty of land and resources for them.Population growth is not a threat as it's portrayed.
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Oct 04, 2018 01:49am
@prafulla The measures you suggest to encourage family planning would not make one iota of difference to the group you are addressing. To be really effective, when the populace is illiterate or unenlightened, family planning would have to be enforced as it was in China but alas that is not done in a democracy because of vote banks.
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Oct 04, 2018 01:54am
Really! Family planning is biggest problem in PK. What about city and regional planning? What about resource planning? Why does millions of gallons of water ends up in the sea? Why can't that be utilized? Must everyone stay in Karachi or Lahore or Islamabad or existing towns. Why aren't any new cities being developed.
Corruption is the biggest problem, tax evasion and disloyalty to the country. The funds channeled outside of the country by wealthy could have opened new schools, new hospitals and such.
The nincompoop experts were yelling foul in 1990 when world population was 5.3 billion and saying new mouths to feed will not have enough food and water. We are at 7.6 billion now and population is being provided for. Yes, people go hungry but not because there is not enough food but because of the greed and lack of management. Check stats on how much food gets wasted.
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Oct 04, 2018 01:57am
So by 2030 the rankings by population size will be 1. China, 2. India, 3 Indonesia, 4. USA., 5 Pakistan. and 6. Bangladesh? How will Pakistan be #4?
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Oct 04, 2018 02:08am
@Shah "Pakistan is already the 5th most populous nation in the world as it overtook Brazil some years ago. Compared Pakistan´s land area as a whole to India (or even Bangladesh), we will still have less people per square meter then India."
True. But a large portio of that is in the uninhabitable Balochistan desert. If you look at the habitable landmass and compare population density, you will come up with a different conclusion.
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Oct 04, 2018 03:30am
@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Time to stop comparing us with others . We cannot be Chinese American or German . Try to understand people around us , and truth is high population is not workin* for us infact it’s a biggest problem reason for a of all corruption
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Oct 04, 2018 05:10am
@Shah: Is the ability to feed enough justification for uncontrolled breeding? We need to breathe to be able to be fed..
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Oct 04, 2018 05:23am
@Right voice higher the population better for the country. More completion and better economy progress. West will be looking for cheaper labour so more industries will flourish in Asia.
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Oct 04, 2018 06:11am
@Shah Good so you can have more kids and compete with India.
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Oct 04, 2018 07:58am
@Addy Why do you think TV ads are not the right way? They are probably the best way!
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Oct 04, 2018 08:00am
@Prateik It would help if Pakistanis paid their taxes.
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Oct 04, 2018 08:11am
@BAXAR Yes, family planning works, both forced and voluntary. You say China is the only country where forced family planning has been successful - who else has tried it unsuccessfully? Most developed nations have managed to limit family size through social and economic means without any coercion. Families decide themselves that they cannot afford more children.
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Oct 04, 2018 09:38am
no surprises there.
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Oct 04, 2018 11:37am
The west is afraid is that due to higher rate of population increase in pakistan,more migration of pakistani population to europe & america will take place which will substantially change the demographic profiles of America & european nations.
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Oct 04, 2018 02:06pm
There was NO major big issues like this in the world before family planning...It emerged when you/we start it.....!!! ????
It is always due to mismanagement and unjustified distribution of wealth and sources....
95% of world's population is concentrated on just 10% of world's land surface ??, overall birth and fertility rate are reducing,?? The globe’s richest 1% own half of the world’s wealth. ???
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Oct 05, 2018 02:50am
Large populations translate into powerful economy as money velocity increases. Large populations must first develop large scale farming and large scale consumer goods and transportation. The large scale farming requires more flood control reservoirs and solar power farms.
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Oct 05, 2018 03:24am
@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad
China did not become powerful economically because of the population but because of westerners invested in cheap manufacturing in China. Had it not happened?
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Oct 05, 2018 04:19am
@Shah
Don’t compare with India
Compare with Iran or Turkey
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Oct 06, 2018 10:18am
@GHALIBJEEE
You’re out of touch with reality. And that’s scary.
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