PAKISTAN’s population bomb is not ticking anymore; it has already exploded.

The detailed results of the 2023 digital census published by the government after a year’s delay reveal that the population increased from 207.68m in 2017 to 241.49m in 2023, at one of the world’s highest growth rates of 2.55pc. There have been reservations expressed by some political parties as well as the Sindh government on the way the census was conducted. Many suspect that the 2023 census understates the total population.

If allowed to increase unchecked at the present rate — over thrice as fast as the global average growth rate of 0.8pc — Pakistan’s population might double by 2050. Some conservative estimates, such as the........

© Dawn