Population boom: scarce resources put Pakistan under pressure: Economic Survey

Being sixth populous country of the world with estimated population growth rate of 1.89 percent, Pakistan is under pressure due to its scarce resources.
According to Economic Survey of Pakistan for fiscal year 2015-16, Pakistan stands at 27th position in terms of Gross Domestic Product (purchasing power parity) of work where as in terms of population it is the sixth populous country. With due deliberation, the structure of existing population of Pakistan showed that the country has 60 per cent economically active population or work force.
Pakistan continues to be the sixth most populated country in the world with an estimated population of 195.4 million. The population growth rate is 1.89 which is higher as compared to neighbouring countries like India, Iran and Bangladesh.
However, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz government is trying to tackle this issue of high population growth rate through introducing different programmes like Family Welfare Centers (FWC), Reproductive Health Services Centers (RHS-A), Regional Training Institutes and Mobile Services Units.
According to the current Economic Survey, total population recorded in 2016 is 195.4 million, and was 191.71 millions in 2015. In which urban population recorded as 77.93 million and rural population at 117.48 million, whereby Urban Population in 2015 was 75.19 million and Rural Population was 116.52 million. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in 2015 was 3.2 and in 2016 it was 3.1.
According to the survey, Crude Birth Rate (CBR) has been marginally improved from 26.4 per thousand in 2014 to 25.6 per thousand in 2016 while the crude death rate has declined from 6.90 per thousand in 2014 to 6.70 per thousand in 2016.
A persistent improvement in Health and Education indicators along with effective population welfare programmes, Pakistan has been able to witness decline in population growth rate to 1.89 in 2016 as compared to 1.92 in 2015 and 1.95 in 2014.
During current financial year, FY2016, the federal government has allocated Rs 5.62 billion for the support of the provincial Population Welfare Programmes including AJK, GB and FATA.
However, according to the Labour Force Survey 2014-15, Pakistan has 61.04 millions labour force. Out of this labour force only 57.42 million people got employed and 3.62 million people are unemployed.
The government is cognisant of labour market situation and started different programmes like Youth Business Loan Scheme, Interest Free Loans Scheme, Youth Training Scheme and Youth Skill Development Programme to utilise the potential of youth. As a result unemployment rate has decreased from 6.24 percent in 2012-13 to 5.9 percent in 2014-15. Most of the labour force in Pakistan works in the rural areas where agriculture is the dominant activity. The total labour force working in the agricultural sector decreased from 43.7 percent in 2012-13 to 42.3 percent in 2014-15. In manufacturing sector the labour force participation rate has increased from 14.1 percent in 2012-13 to 15.3 percent in 2014-15.
Pakistan is one of the largest labour exporting countries in the region and remittances from the overseas Pakistani are one of the major source of income not for families but for the development of the country as well. The government is committed to producing skilled workers to send them abroad.
During 1971 - 2015 periods, almost 8.77 million Pakistanis went abroad for employment through the Bureau of Emigration. Out of this total manpower exports, about 96 per cent proceeded only to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, 1 percent to European countries and 3 percent to other countries for employment.
The government initiated many programmes for skill development and also explored overseas employment opportunities and is planning to send one million workers to other countries to further support foreign remittances. Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis is in process of setting up more protector offices in the country as per need of the people.