THIS year, there is much to celebrate on World Population Day (July 11). Population issues have finally risen to the top of the government’s agenda. The prime minister has announced the formation of a high-level National Population Council, which includes the defence chief and four chief ministers among others. The long-term goal of a supra-body focused on population and related human development, to be headed by the PM, has been realised. Given the relentlessly high population growth rates with their huge, documented human and financial costs, this announcement was long overdue. There are great expectations of the NPC.

Much can be learned from other countries in the region and most parts of the world about how to accelerate and support fertility decline, mainly through investments and priority given to education — especially female education — women’s empowerment — especially through paid work — and above all, voluntary high-quality family planning services integrated with other aspects of healthcare. Pakistan’s peers — Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, and India — embarked on this agenda of slowing down rapid growth over two decades ago. They have halved their fertility levels and increased per capita incomes, which were once lower than Pakistan’s. Above all, these countries have prioritised investments in improving human development at home.

Pakistan, on the other hand, is now among a handful of countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, still grappling with large gaps in meeting the basic human needs of millions of people. Pakistan’s human development rankings continue to fall. This has been a two-way relationship: underinvestment in human........

© Dawn