On the occasion of World Population Day, Senator Sherry Rehman, Vice President of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Chair of the Parliamentary Forum on Population, sounded the alarm on Pakistan\u2019s unchecked population growth, calling it \u201ca ticking time bomb that we keep sidelining.\u201d
\nIn her remarks, Senator Rehman stated, \u201cPakistan\u2019s population now exceeds 241 million, with a fertility rate of 3.6 \u2014 the highest in South Asia. We are the 5th most populous country in the world. This is not a dividend; it is a structural burden that is pressing down on every household, every institution, and every resource.\u201d
\nShe warned that rapid population growth is feeding a vicious cycle of poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment. \u201cForty percent of our children under the age of five are stunted due to malnutrition. Every 50 minutes, a woman dies during childbirth. These are not just numbers \u2014 they are real human tragedies playing out every single day across Pakistan,\u201d Senator Rehman said.<\/p>\n
Senator Rehman underscored how population growth is deeply interlinked with health, education, and economic stability. \u201cPopulation growth reduces per capita income \u2014 a 1% increase in population growth slashes PKR 35,000 annually from the average citizen\u2019s income. If we reduce fertility to 2.1 births per woman by 2030, per capita income could rise by 37%, and GDP growth could increase to 3.9% by 2033.\u201d
\nShe urged for a robust, cross-party consensus to prioritize population issues at the highest level of national policy. \u201cIt\u2019s time for all political parties to sign a Charter on Population. We must transcend political divides and act with unity, clarity, and urgency. Family planning is not a partisan issue \u2014 it is a national survival issue.\u201d
\nCiting key statistics, she said \u201cOnly 34% of couples use contraception, while 17.3% face unmet family planning needs.
\nRaising contraceptive use to 52% can prevent 3,800 maternal and 140,000 infant deaths.\u201d
\n\u201cThese are solvable problems,\u201d she said. \u201cBut only if we stop treating population growth as a taboo and start treating it as a top-tier development issue.\u201d
\nSenator Rehman also highlighted the role of cultural change and legislation. \u201cWe recently passed the Islamabad Child Marriage Restraint Bill, raising the legal marriage age from 16 to 18. This is not just a policy win; it\u2019s a moral and social breakthrough for girls in Pakistan. Girls married too young are more likely to suffer domestic violence, leave school, and face life-threatening pregnancies. This law gives them the right to choose, to learn, to live.\u201d
\nIn her remarks, she recognized the role of development partners like the Population Council, UNFPA, and UKAID for providing crucial evidence and support. \u201cBut finding the solution is our job \u2014 as parliamentarians, as citizens, as leaders.\u201d
\nShe reiterated that population must be seen through a rights-based lens: \u201cFamily planning is not just about numbers. It\u2019s about rights \u2014 the right of every woman to make informed decisions about her body, the right of every child to be born into a family that can nurture and protect them, and the right of every citizen to access health, education, and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the occasion of World Population Day, Senator Sherry Rehman, Vice President of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Chair of the Parliamentary Forum on Population, sounded the alarm on Pakistan\u2019s unchecked population growth, calling it \u201ca ticking time bomb that we keep sidelining.\u201d In her remarks, Senator Rehman stated, \u201cPakistan\u2019s population now exceeds 241 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":83563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83564,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83546\/revisions\/83564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}