11 October 2004	Monday	25 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: Pakistan is the most urban country in South Asia as 32 per cent of its rural population has so far moved to urban areas, posing daunting challenges of housing, environment and employment and putting extra burden on urban infrastructure and social services, reveals a UN report.

The report, which has been prepared by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), presents a situation analysis of Pakistan's current demographic and socio-economic environment and the recent efforts of the government towards structured adjustment in various sectors.

The report shows that 24 per cent of urban growth in Pakistan can be attributed to migration including international migration with influx of Bangladeshis, two to three million other illegal entrants and as many as three million Afghan refugees. While the overall natural increase in urban areas remains 2.6 per cent. Pakistan's population is likely to reach 220 million by the year 2020.

As 33 per cent of the country's population is living in urban areas, the urban population has registered a higher growth rate of 3.5 per cent with an increasing demand for basic civil and social amenities. About 50 per cent of the total population lives in one-room houses, with inadequate access to sanitation and sewerage facilities, according to the report.

Urban population, the report says, has grown over seven times from about 6 million in 1951 to about 34 million in 1998. However, the provision of basic amenities in urban areas has not kept pace with the growing urban population, adding to a host of problems through the increasing slums in cities and townships.

Urban poverty exists and itself is a breeding ground for many social problems including drug and child abuses, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). According to the report, the rise in urban population, as a result of population growth and rural-to-urban migration, has increased pressure on urban infrastructure and social services.

Besides, overcrowding and air pollution has increased markedly as a result of vehicular emissions and industrial pollution. Pakistan, the report says, is also confronting the deforestation issue as only 5 per cent of its total land area is under forest.

Similarly, the adverse effects of unplanned urban growth, lack of implementation of quality standards for industrial pollution and lack of defined property rights are contributing to environmental degradation in the country.

The report has also highlighted the three main aspects of migration in Pakistan including inter-provincial, rural-to-urban and international. About internal migration, the report reveals that the number of persons who migrated during the ten years preceding the 1998 Census was estimated at 4 million, over two third of those "recent" migrants settled in urban areas, where they constitute 6.3 per cent of the population. Urban areas of all the four provinces combined had 5 to 6 per cent of their population classified as "recent migrants".

In the rural areas of Punjab, the percentage of recent migrants was about twice that of the other three provinces, which suggests that in Punjab rural-to-rural migration is more prevalent.

Since 1950s, Sindh has been receiving migrants who have mainly originated in Punjab and NWFP provinces. Over 70 per cent of the migrants in Sindh had originated outside the province whereas about 60 per cent of the migrants who originated in the Punjab and the NWFP migrated within the provinces.

The report also highlights uneven distribution of population among the provinces. Balochistan, which contains about 44 per cent of the land mass, has only five per cent of the country's population and has a density of 19 persons per square kilometre. Punjab, on the other hand, contains 55 per cent of the total population, with only one fourth of the total land area of the country.