ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: The country's population has increased almost five-fold since independence in 1947, with nearly three million births annually at a growth rate of 1.9 per cent.

This was stated by Federal Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain here on Thursday. He was speaking at the signing ceremony of a working plan worth $2 million between the ministry and Catalyst Consortium on Optimal Birth-Spacing Initiative (OBSI).

"You will be aware that Pakistan with a population of 151 million is ranked as the sixth most populous country in the world and fourth in the Asian region," the minister said.

He said if the current growth rate went unchecked, Pakistan's population would reach 195 million by the year 2020. Coupled with low literacy, high fertility and infant mortality rates and modest economic growth, such a large population would have a negative impact on the living standards of the populace, he said.

Mr Hussain said the overall vision of the population policy announced in July 2002 was to achieve population replacement level by 2020 through expeditious completion of demographic transition that entails reduction in both fertility and mortality rates.

He said the population policy of Pakistan announced in July 2002 took cue from this alarming demographic scenario and backlog of development deficit for building a national consensus towards striking a balance between population growth and development.

The working plan would help achieve population replacement level by 2020 leading towards the attainment of International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Millennium Development Goals, the minister said.

It aims at attaining a balance between resources and population within the broad parameters of the ICPD paradigm and to address various dimensions of the population issue within the national laws and development priorities while remaining within the country's socio cultural norms, he said.

"Today, we have assembled to sign Optimal Birth-Spacing Initiative (OBSI) working plan between the ministry of population welfare and catalyst consortium with USAID financial support of over $2 million," he said.

The concept of Optimal Birth-Spacing is very close to Islamic teachings, he added. Other speakers present on the occasion also called for child spacing to provide better life to tens of thousands of mothers in the country.