KARACHI, June 19: The population of Pakistan during the last 50 years, has increased from 33 million to 152.53 million in the current fiscal 2004-05, thus making it the seventh ‘most populous’ country in the world.
Although the current population growth rate has slowed to an annual 1.9 per cent, the overall population in 2004-05 increased by 2.76 million as compared to 2003-04.
This annual rate is still considerably high as compared with the average of 0.9 per cent for developed countries and 1.7 per cent for developing states.
Pakistan is relatively poorer today as a result of a high population growth rate, says an official report.
According to one estimate, Pakistan’s population would almost double in the next 32 years if it keeps on increasing at the current growth rate of 1.9 per cent.
The growing population has put tremendous pressure on the existing resources of the country while concerned authorities have failed to explore and exploit new resources.
While due to demographic transition, the share of old age people has declined by 1.5 per cent. This change in demographic structure is owed heavily to a steady decline in population growth since 1981.
With a further slow down in population growth, Pakistan may see its share of the working-age population rise while that of young age would decline.
On the other hand, mortality has been decreasing and fertility too has shown a significant decline over recent years. The crude death rate (CDR) of Pakistan is estimated at 8.1 per thousand in the fiscal 2004-05.
The life expectancy in Pakistan for the fiscal 2004-05 is estimated at 64.10 for males and 63.80 for females.
Maternal mortality ranges from 350-400 per hundred thousand per year leading to about 17,000 newborn babies being born motherless. The decline in mortality rate has been slowed, when compared with those of many developing countries.—PPI
