Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Pakistan's population is growing so fast despite decades of family planning efforts that in 40 years it will be the fourth largest country on Earth, a United Nation report said.
The United Nations Population Division said that Pakistan will overtake Brazil and Indonesia by 2050 to rank fourth in world population, almost doubling to 335 million from its current 180 million, a private news channel reported.
"For a country with the resources of Pakistan that's enormous. How can Pakistan support a population that size with jobs, education, health care? It can't do so right now with the population it has," said Daniel Baker, who heads the UN Family Planning Association in Pakistan.
Pakistan currently ranks sixth behind China, India, the United States, Indonesia and Brazil. On its creation in 1947 the subcontinent's new Islamic republic had 37 million people and was ranked 15th in the world.
In little than 60 years it has multiplied nearly five times, and now has a population growth rate of 2.2 percent per year, according to UN population data.
The rapid population growth poses potentially disastrous consequences.
Fifty-seven percent of Pakistan's population is between 15 and 64, and 41 percent are under 15. Only four percent are over 65. "Pakistan is now experiencing its largest ever youth bulge. It could be a huge capital asset if it could be taken into account, or it could be taken the other way around if you don't take it into account," Dr Qazi said.
