Govt to unveil strategy to curb population growth

Pakistan's federal government is preparing to unveil a comprehensive strategy aimed at significantly curbing the nation's population growth rate. The plan targets reducing the current growth rate of 2.55% to 1.25% by 2035. This initiative was discussed during a meeting on population welfare chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The prime minister emphasized that the rapidly increasing population poses one of the country's most significant national challenges. He called for population control and welfare measures to be treated as a national responsibility, stressing the need to integrate population planning with national development, economic stability, and human resource development. The government plans to convene a meeting with provincial administrations, the governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and other key stakeholders to finalize the strategy. Additionally, the meeting welcomed an investment from a Chinese firm to modernize Pakistan's grain storage infrastructure, a move seen as contributing to national development goals.

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Describing the rapidly growing population as one of the country’s biggest challenges, the prime minister said measures for population control and welfare must be treated as a national responsibility.