ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: The report on the State of the World Population, 2004, was formally launched here on Wednesday by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The report, which is titled 'The Cairo Consensus at ten: Population, Reproductive Health and Global Efforts to End Poverty' is part of the collective effort to examine the progress countries had made in implementing the Cairo agenda of 1994.
Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain on the one hand called the report a 'comprehensive' one which provided an opportunity to people to have a global view of the social and demographic indicators of each country, while on the other hand expressed his reservations over the demographic figures quoted in the report about Pakistan.
Explaining his viewpoint, the minister said: "This is more so because UN figures relate to estimates over a period of time whereas our figures are current and are based on surveys carried out by the Federal Survey of Statistics and other research institutions."
The UN, he said, had its own system of data collection which was time consuming. In fact the Population Division of the UN which collected data from the UN member countries took a lot of time to process and compile it at different levels before it ultimately got it placed in its report, he said.
"I am nevertheless optimistic that our academicians, researchers, decision makers and policymakers shall find this report quite useful," he said. The minister, however, could not give a satisfactory reply when asked whether he possessed the latest data if he had objections over the UN data, and, if he possessed he should provide it to newsmen and all concerned. A woman also criticized the government for not conducting separate survey on female mortality rates, which was very high in the country.
UNFPA representative Dr Olivier Brasseur, who formally presented a copy of the report to the minister, said Pakistan had entered fertility transition and the government estimated that population growth might have decreased from 2.56 per cent in 1998 to 1.9 per cent in the current year.
"Although other institutions might have different estimates, the bottom line remains the same, we have an additional net population intake of 3.5 million every year, a heavy toll for the country's economic development," he said.
Mr Brasseur said in Pakistan everyday 50 women died from pregnancy-related complications, leaving a devastating void in their families and communities. "Because it is poor women who are suffering and dying. Maternal mortality is a crisis that does not get the attention it deserves. No other health indicator shows such a glaring gap between the rich and poor," he said.
The population minister said with the current 1.9 per cent growth rate, Pakistan's population would increase to 195 million by the year 2020. However, the UN's Pakistan Population Assessment, 2003, has estimated 220 million population by the corresponding period.
Mr Hussain said the main factors underlying the high growth rate were the pro-fertility environment, depicting a high total fertility rate (TFR) of 4.1 births per woman. Besides, about 42 per cent of the population, he said, was under 15 years, while 45 per cent of the female population was in the reproductive age group.