ISLAMABAD: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has unanimously approved the results of the 2023 digital census on Saturday, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the CCI meeting which was presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held detailed consultation and decision-making on the seventh digital census. The meeting was briefed in detail about the procedures and results of the census by the Ministry of Planning and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The meeting was told that the Census Advisory Committee for Census 2022, which consists of well-known and influential statisticians with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission its president has approved the establishment of the Census Monitoring Committee and the recommendations of the Census Advisory Committee.
Pakistan’s population grows by 35 million: census
The meeting was further briefed that for the first time in the country’s history, the participation of all stakeholders, including provincial representatives, was ensured in the Census Monitoring Committee. The briefing added that for the digital census, NADRA has provided not only software but also 120,000 tablets, whereas, National Telecom Corporation (NTC) provided data infrastructure, storage and computing facilities and SPARCO provided the latest digital satellite of blocks.
The meeting was also told that provincial governments provided security of 121,000 personnel, armed forces and law enforcement agencies to collect data.
On the recommendation of the Census Advisory Committee, the CCI involved all stakeholders in the seventh digital census process from day one and provincial administration, civil society, and educational experts were also were made a part of the census to ensure transparency in the data collection process.
Moreover, the provincial chief secretaries and district administrations were provided with the facility of end-to-end monitoring through dashboards for transparency in census activities.
The CCI was informed in the briefing that digital census 2023 continued from March 1, 2023 to May 22, 2023 while the post-data collection survey continued from July 8 to 19, 2023.
The meeting was further informed that in 2023, the total population of Pakistan was recorded at 241.49 million which included population of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 40.85 million, population of Punjab 127.68 million, population of Sindh was 55.69 million, population of Balochistan 14.89 million, whereas, the population of Islamabad was recorded at 2.36 million. The current annual growth rate of Pakistan population is 2.55 per cent, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 2.38 per cent, Punjab 2.53 per cent, Sindh 2.57 per cent, and Balochistan 3.20 per cent.
After the meeting unanimously approved the results of the seventh digital census, the prime minister while thanking the participants emphasized that the current rate of population growth is very alarming. He added that there is need that all national institutions and provincial governments have to take urgent measures to control the population growth.
He further stated that the limited resources of the country are insufficient for the growing population and if the population growth rate continues at the current rate, poverty and unemployment will increase in Pakistan despite all efforts. “So for safe future we have to take steps to control the population growth and for the development and prosperity of the existing population” he added.
The meeting was attended by Dr Khalid Magsi of BAP Party, Syed Aminul Haq of MQM, Maulana Asad Mehmood of Jamiat Ulema Islam (F), leader of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Qamar Zaman Kaira besides other members of the CCI.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023