“Population growth is creating problems of infrastructure, education and health,” University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF) Vice Chancellor Iqrar Ahmed Khan said on Thursday.
Addressing a seminar titled Population Growth and Its Impact on Society organised by the UAF in collaboration with the Family Planning Association of Pakistan (Rahnuma).
Khan said 63 per cent of the country’s population was below the age of 30. He said natural resources were depleting. “The situation would worsen if steps were not taken now,” he said. Faculty of Social Sciences Dean Iqbal Zafar said Pakistan’s population in 1950 was 39 million people. “It has risen to 180 million now. The population is increasing by 3.8 million annually,” he said. Farmer Manzoor Ahmad Khan said Pakistan had three times population than it could accommodate. He said policies needed to be formulated to control population growth. Rural Sociology Department Chairman Ashfaq Maann said population could be controlled by educating the masses. Family Planning Association President Suraya Jabeen said the population growth rate in the county was high because of a lack of awareness.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 21st, 2014.