Daily Times

The rising population growth has created serious challenges to the country’s socioeconomic resources including food security, healthcare, housing services and the experts underlined the need for its control to achieve heights of economic prosperity.

As Pakistan’s population surges to a staggering 241 million mark early this year, the pressure on its socio-economic fabric have become increasingly evident in all provinces, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where 2.5 million housing units are required for poor and underprivileged.

This demographic boom, which has escalated from just 33 million population in 1950, is now positioning Pakistan as the fifth most populous in the world, trailing only China, India, USA, and Indonesia, bringing socioeconomic services including education, agriculture, housing and hospitals under mounting pressure.

“The findings from the 6th Population and Housing Census conducted in 2017 are alarming. The national census recorded a growth rate of 2.4% since 1998, highlighting an urgent need for comprehensive strategies at national and provincial level to address the burgeoning health, education, food and housing problems in KP,” said Prof Dr Naeem Khan, former Chairman, Economics Department, University of Peshawar while talking to APP.

“Currently, there is a reported shortfall of about 10 million housing units in the country including 2.5 million in KP, a number that could double by 2030 if population growth remained unchecked.”

He claimed that the demand for new housing units was growing at a rate of 600,000 per year, and that 1.1 million housing units annually are needed keeping in view of rapid population growth.

The trend of rural-urban migration has further complicated the issue, with around 63.6% of the population still residing in rural areas, despite a noticeable increase in urban dwellers from 32.52% in 1998 to 36.4% in 2017.

This shift has placed an additional strain on urban infrastructure, education, healthcare, agriculture and houses services to people especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In KP alone, he said the population has crossed 30 million mark, with an annual growth rate of 2.89%, which should be a matter of great concern.

He maintained that the increasing influx of individuals from less-developed regions is exacerbating housing shortages in urban centers like Peshawar.

Ikhtair Wali Khan, PMLN KP spokesman said that PTI Government has failed to construct five million houses in the country as announced by PTI founder in 2018 general election.

He accused PTI Government for outsourcing public sector schools that was tantamount to depriving thousands of poor students of education.

Alaike, he said that about 25 public sector universities were operating without Vice Chancellors, which were adversally affecting higher education and research works.

Experts argued that controlling population growth is vital for addressing wider socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and corruption.

Dr. Naeem emphasized that a failure to implement effective family planning and population welfare programs has negatively impacted education and health delivery, agricultural productivity, and overall economic growth.

Without addressing the monster issue of overpopulation, he said it would be difficult to tackle unemployment, illiteracy or poverty, adding the current landscape of shortage of housing in Peshawar have posed serious challenges to the KP government.

Aside from a few housing projects like Hayatabad Township and Regi Model Town, there has been little progress in public housing initiatives in KP, resulting in skyrocketing property prices and rent in major cities of KP.

Residents like Waris Khan, who have spent huge amount on rented houses, feel the weight of these challenges daily. “I have paid about Rs two million in house rent with no end insight in Peshawar” he lamented.

The experts suggested that Pakistan must learn from successful housing projects in countries like China, launching small residential developments in urban areas to provide affordable housing to poor coupled with robust family planning initiatives, which could help reduce the current population growth rate significantly besides reduce property cost.

Ultimately, the solution to Pakistan’s pressing issues lies in a collective effort by all stakeholders to control population explosion.

By doing so, the country can pave the way for sustainable economic growth, ensure food security, enhanced living standards, and a brighter future for its citizens. As the country especially KP stands at this crossroads, the urgency for action to control pollution has never been more important to achieve the goals of economic prosperity.