ISLAMABAD, May 29: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday stressed the need to check population growth which he said was undermining government’s efforts to provide better living conditions to the people.

Speaking at the inaugural session of a follow-up meeting of the council on Islamabad Declaration on Population and Development (IDPD) made by an international Ulema conference held in May last year, he said sustainable development was directly related to population stabilization.

Being appreciative of the IDPD, he acknowledged that the effort was playing an important role in lowering population growth in the country.

Besides insuring macroeconomic stabilization in the country, the government is also focussing on social sector development which has already started showing considerable improvement.

“I am sure that the advent of a consultative process between scholars and development partners during the follow-up meeting will open new opportunities for the country’s population welfare programme,” Mr Aziz said.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain said with the ongoing population growth rate of 1.86 per cent, the population of the country would double in next 38 years putting unbearable pressure on its socio- economic indicators.

However, the government claims to achieve replacement level fertility by 2020 with total population of the country touching 195 million. Pakistan with a population of 156.26 million as of mid-2006 is the sixth most populous country in the world. However, now the demographic transition has set in and the fertility indicators are showing a positive trend, the minister said.

“The population growth rate which was over 3 per cent in the ‘80s has declined to 1.86 per cent. Total fertility rate has come down to 4 and contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) has gone upwards to 37 per cent during the current year,” Mr Hussain said.

Following the IDPD, the ministry has initiated various programmes, stressing empowerment and involvement of women in decision making in their reproductive health issues, the minister said.