KARACHI: Pakistan plans to encourage the use of contraceptives to bring down its current population growth rate from 2.4 percent to 1.1 percent by 2030, a senior official told Arab News on Tuesday.
The country has developed a National Action Plan (NAP) to implement the recommendations of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved in 2018 to address the challenge of population growth.
“The plan consists of various components, such as population fund, legislation, curriculum and trainings, and talking to ulema [or religious scholars],” Dr. Shahid Hanif, Director General of the Population Program Wing (PPW), said.
It also seeks to increase the present contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) of 34 percent to 50 percent by 2025 and 60 percent by 2030 to lower the existing average population growth rate of 2.4 percent to 1.5 percent by 2025 and to 1.1 percent by 2030. Officials say they hope to achieve these targets by reducing the present fertility rate of 3.6 births per woman to 2.8 births by 2025 and 2.2 births per woman by 2030.
At the current rate, the annual population grows by an average of more than five million newborn babies per year. After the growth rate is brought down to 1.1 percent, however, the average addition would be down to 2.3 million on an annual basis, keeping in view the country’s current population of 211.17 million.
The country’s federal and provincial administrations are taking steps to ensure universal access to family planning and reproductive health care services. The federal government wants to create a five-year non-lapsable special fund to reduce the population growth rate with an annual allocation of Rs 10 billion. The fund will be set up exclusively from federal resources without any cut from the provincial funds, according to the latest Economic Survey of Pakistan.
“Provinces have been given funding for more lady health workers and commodities [contraceptives] since the federal government will provide a matching grant to them,” Hanif said
One of the functions of the Population Program Wing is to ensure contraceptive commodity security, supply chain management and warehousing of contraceptives for provincial and regional population welfare departments.
A Contraceptives Commodity Security Working Group (CCSWG) has also been established to ensure the availability of birth control commodities, their timely procurement, pooled distribution, stock assessment and data availability etc
“With a manageable population, we will be able to utilize our resources more effectively for the welfare of people and our national economy. This is important since about two-third of Pakistan’s population is below the age of 20. These people need education, health and other facilities. If these individuals don’t get basic necessities, the country may witness huge social disruption in the future,” Hanif added.
However, he categorically ruled out that the country was considering “one child” policy, saying “it was never discussed nor thought about.”
The reduction of maternal mortality rate from 170 to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030 is also among the objectives of the plan.
Use of contraceptives to bring down Pakistan's population growth rate to 1.1% – official
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Use of contraceptives to bring down Pakistan's population growth rate to 1.1% – official
- More than five million babies are born in the country every year
- Pakistan also plans to reduce maternal mortality rate from 170 to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030
Bodies of Pakistani nationals who died attempting illegal migration repatriated from Iran
- Pakistan’s envoy in Tehran warns youth against human smugglers after deaths in harsh weather
- Pakistan reported sharp fall in illegal migration to Europe this year amid nationwide crackdown
ISLAMABAD: The bodies of two Pakistani nationals, who died near the Iran-Türkiye border after attempting to travel illegally to Europe, have been repatriated to the country, said a senior diplomat on Tuesday, reiterating warnings against human smugglers amid an intensified crackdown by authorities in Islamabad on illegal migration.
Pakistan says it has stepped up action against illegal immigration and human trafficking in recent years, reporting a 47% drop in illegal migration to Europe this year and the arrest of more than 1,700 suspected human smugglers, according to official figures.
However, people continue to attempt dangerous irregular journeys in search of work and better economic opportunities abroad.
“The mortal remains of Pakistani nationals Mr. Armanullah s/o Gul Rahman and Mr. Ihtasham s/o Mukhtar Gul, both residents of Nowshera, have been repatriated to Pakistan through Taftan border earlier today,” Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, said in a post on social media platform X. “Both had fallen victim to the greed of human smugglers and lost their lives in extremely harsh weather conditions near Iran’s border with Turkiye.”
“I once again request the youth back home not to be trapped by human smugglers and instead follow the legal path to travel abroad,” he added, thanking the government of the Balochistan province in Pakistan for arranging the transportation of the bodies and offering condolences to the victims’ families.
The issue illegal immigration has drawn heightened scrutiny since 2023, when hundreds of people, including Pakistani nationals, died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in an overcrowded vessel that sank off the Greek coast, prompting Islamabad to launch nationwide investigations into human smuggling and trafficking networks.
Authorities have since arrested Pakistani and foreign nationals at airports with forged travel documents, highlighting the scale of document fraud linked to illegal departures.
In September, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) released a list of more than 100 of Pakistan’s “most wanted” human smugglers and identified major trafficking hubs across Punjab province and the capital, Islamabad.
Earlier this month, Pakistan announced plans to roll out an artificial intelligence-based immigration screening system at Islamabad airport from January, aimed at detecting forged documents and preventing illegal travel abroad, as part of broader efforts to curb human smuggling and unauthorized migration.
