“Anyone desiring to have more children may relocate to countries where the population of Muslims is extremely low”.
According to the latest report by the UN report titled ‘World Population Prospects 2022’ the population of Pakistan may cross the figure of 366 million by 2050. As a result, the country which has a current population of 220 million people may increase up to 56%.
Rather than taking an urgent decision after what the UN has mentioned in its report regarding Pakistan, Abdul Qadir Patel, Federal Minister for Health came up with an odd solution to control the increasing population in the country.
In an event, Abdul Qadir Patel stated, “Anyone desiring to have more children may relocate to countries where the population of Muslims is extremely low”.
The Minister also urged that citizens should be provided awareness regarding family planning to overcome the issue of the increasing population of the country.
Abdul Qadir Patel was addressing an event organized by British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Christian Turner, citing that the population of Pakistan may double in the next 30 years. It would be burdensome for our resources.
Family planning is an issue that needs to be addressed. The business-as-usual approach will not work anymore. Since 2012, Pakistan’s largest donor in terms of family planning in the UK, has provided us the support.
DAFPAK (Delivering Accelerated Family Planning in Pakistan) is a programme worth £90 million which has up till now reached 7 million users from marginalized communities adapting to family planning. The UK has always shown its commitment and support to Pakistan.
President Arif Alvi via a video testimonial also addressed the occasion of World Population Day expressing concern regarding the meager availability of resources and constant population growth. He stated that the government should implement every option to make people aware of the negative implications of overpopulation. He said the people may suffer from social and economic life imbalance, as well as the danger to child and mother’s health.
UNFPA Pakistan’s Country Representative, Dr. Bakhtior Kadirov cited that the focus should be on every individual. This will help address the needs of the world and support them, which would benefit the generations in the future based on human rights. Hence, no one would be left behind, if they get properly supported.
On the occasion of World Population Day, last week, the UN released the World Population Prospects 2022. According to the report, the population may exceed 8 billion from the current 7.7 billion at the end of the year 2022. On the other hand, previous reports indicated that the population explosion may take place at its full peak by the year 2100. But now it is expected that the global population may reach its peak by 2080, which is 20 years prior. Hence, the world will have to bear with a global population of 10.4 billion people.
