The USA liberty of Congress data, on the population of Pakistan, estimated it, in July 2004, to be 159196336 with an annual growth rate of 19% for the year 2003 and the UNDP claims a growth rate of 2.400 per annum for Pakistan.
The World Human Development, recently released by the UNDP, ranks Pakistan at 142 in the 177 nations of the world, with regard to per capita income, educational level, health quality. With this deplorable standing amongst the world nations, we are spending major national income on unproductive and human killing devices.
Instead of motivating the citizens to realise the effects of high population growth, the Punjab Governor is busy every week attending mass marriage ceremonies of those segments of society which already have 8-10 children who are illiterate.
The religious oppose family planning and also nullify the efforts of the NGOs to effectively implement their birth control. Plans until and unless, Pakistan follows China's policy of 1 child or 2, Pakistan's projected population by 2025 and 2050 would be 249.7 million and 348.6 million, at the growth rate of 2.7%. With a crisis already in water shortage and wheat production, the standard of living of the majority of the population will further deteriorate.
It is interesting to note that in 1951, Pakistan had a population of only 33 million, it increased more than 4 times, in 50 years, at 148.6 million in 2003.
The largest city of Pakistan, Karachi, with a population of about 12 million is highly polluted, while the other cities suffer from the same fate, due to growth of population and the failure of the government to cope with the issue.
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