[SIR UMAR KHAN DAWAR (0325-2512225)] 1

Population in Pakistan
Population refers to the human resource of a country. The population of a country presents a double-faced
phenomenon.
• Population is an asset and vital for development process of a country, if educated, healthy, skilled and
patriot.
• On the other hand, population can hamper economic development, if illiterate, diseased/unhealthy
and unskilled.
• Population growth is directly related to birth rates, death rates and migration.

Q) What is meant by the following terms?

v Birth rate: average number of births per thousand in one year.
v Death rate: average number of deaths per thousand in on year.
v Rate of natural increase: rate of natural increase is the difference between the birth and death rate.

Q) What are the reasons for high population growth in Pakistan?

• Child labor: poor families wish to have more children who could earn from an early age.
• Early marriage: being another reason for high population growth. Early marriages increase the span
for reproductivity.
• Religious beliefs: maintain that restricting number of children is against Islam.
• Strong desire for sons: as sons are more desirable in one society, people in order to have more sons,
have/plan for more children.
• Immigration: Afghan refugees started entering Pakistan since 1979, numbers reaching to some
3.5million, has added to our population.
• Inconsistent government policies: hinders the consistency and success of any single population
control policy.
• Illiteracy: is another reason of high population growth. As illiterate people are not aware of the
pressure/distress of a large family.

Q) What steps can be taken to reduce population growth?

• Starting of various population welfare programmes (Behbud Association, Green star clinics, Child
Welfare Association).
• Bringing about NGO-Government collaboration in population control programme/awareness creation.
• Increase in literacy rate, bringing awareness of economic consequences of having more children.
• Ulema have a role to play – convincing people for family planning.
• Concentration on female education- that will delay early marriage.
• Prescribing marriage age for both male and female, restricting early marriages.
• Creating awareness regarding population growth via media and education.

Pakistan’s demographic/population transition periods

Stage 1: High birth and high death rates (1905-1935)
Q)
Reasons for high birth rate Reasons for high death rates
• No birth control of family planning. • High infant mortality rate due to diseases like
• Large families taken as a matter of pride. diarrhea, malaria etc.
• Farming main occupation – children needed • Shortage of food supplies due to traditional
to work on land. methods of farming.
• Religious beliefs • Poor hygienic facilities.
• Early marriages • Little development in medical
field, no use of antibiotics.
• Life saving medicines.
• Poor means of transportation making medical
facilities inaccessible

Stage 2: Birth rate high and death rate falls (1935-1970)

Q) Why drop in death rate?
• Increased medical facilities (vaccination, hospitals, doctors).
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• Improvement in sanitation and water supplies.

• Increase in food production.
• Better transportation, means (doctors, medicines, food) in easy reach.
• Decrease in child mortality rate due to increase in better medical facilities.

Stage 3: (1970-2003)
Q) Why fall in birth and death rate?
• Ambitious family planning programmes.
• Improvement in literacy rate and living standards.
• Increasing industrialization and mechanization of farms require few workers.
• Greater number of women in urban areas employed, career oriented.
• Women marrying at a later age.
• Improvement of living standards.

Population Pyramid:
• Is viewed as the most effective way to graphically depict the age and sex distribution of a population,
partly because of the very clear image the pyramid presents.
• This can shed light on the extent of development and other aspects of population.
• Population pyramid tells you:
o How many people of each age live in that area (country).
o Life expectancy of males and females.
o Child mortality rate etc.

Broadly we can divide the population into three age groups.

→ Young population (0-14): is dependent (education, food), indicates birth rate, generally high birth rates
occurring in agriculturally developing country (as work force).
→ Working population (15-64): shows that productive part of population that works and earns, supporting
the young and ageing groups.
→ Ageing population (65-75+):
o This is again the dependent group, has retired, and economically speaking is
burden/unproductive.
o A large ageing population indicates long life expectancy and adequate health facilities.

Employment:
• Employed people having jobs/employment of 10 years of age or above.
• Can be divided into paid and self-employed.
→ Non-wage employment: self-employed or unpaid family worker.
→ Disguided unemployment: greater number of workers than actually required.

Labor force employed by:

Primary – 56.5%
Secondary – 10.5%
Tertiary – 33%

Unemployment:
Unemployment is the state of being unable to find a job/or/ state of being jobless.

Q) What are the reasons for unemployment?

• High rate of population growth.
• Revolution in information technology has decreased the demand of manual workers.
• Mechanization in agriculture – because of usage of machines, fewer workers needed at land.
• Cultural restrains/customary spending – as at wedding and other events require spending of money. It
reduces the saving that can be invested in a business.
• Mismatch in demand and supply of labor force.
• Saturation in agriculture sector-not all sons of farmers can take up agriculture as a profession.
• Non-availability of jobs.
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• Political instability.

Q) How are literacy and training programmes helpful in finding solution to unemployment?
• Increase in literacy rate would reduce the pressure on land in rural areas, and help people to choose
other occupation (that requires education).
• Literate and trained labor force can make economic activities more productive than illiterate and
unskilled labor.
• There will be no gap between demand and supply of labor in the market as education system would
fulfill the demand of the market.
• Trained and skilled labor will have better employment opportunities abroad, this bringing in foreign
exchange.
• A literate population will be more concerned about standard of living, thus appreciate the advantages
of small family (increasing job opportunities).

Q) What is meant by the following terms?

• Migration: is movement of people from one place to another.
• Immigrants: are the people who arrive in a country i.e. Afghan refugees in Pakistan).
• Emigrants: are those who leave a country (of origin) e.g. many Pakistanis leaving for Middle east and
other countries.
• Rural push factors: are factors which force people of rural areas towards urban areas.
• Urban push factors: are factors which attract people from rural areas to urban areas.

Q) Explain rural push factors and urban pull factors

Rural push factors Urban full factors
• Pressure on land, disguised unemployment and • Better employment opportunities, especially in
division of land among sons. factories.
• Over population due to high birth rate. Poor quality • Expectation about better quality of life/higher
of life/low living standard. living standard.
• Limited food production due to (small-scale • More reliable sources of food.
subsistence farming, over-grazing, soil erosion or • City attraction due to sources of entertainment.
soil exhaustion, and water logging and salinity. • Better changes of civic service, life, transport,
• Mechanization of farms, causing reduction in job health and attraction etc.
opportunities.
• Natural disasters (floods, thunderstorms)
destroying homes and property etc.

Factors affecting distribution and density of population in Pakistan

Physical factors:
• Natural topography
• Climate
• Natural vegetation
• Soil
• Natural resources
• Water supply
• Natural routes
Human factors:
• Economic: transport facilities, port facilities, industrial areas established, trade and businesses,
tourism, power supplies etc.
• Political: favorable government policies, investment, stability.
• Social: better accommodation, education and health facilities, rural-urban migration.

Q) What are the problems resulting from rural-urban migration?

• Housing problem – provision of shelter has not kept pace with rural-urban migration.
• Environmental degradation- acute over population in urban areas due to migration has threatened our
environment, causing serious water, air and land pollution and health hazards.
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• Pressure on infrastructure facilities- the rural-urban migration has put a lot of pressure on urban
resources such as food supply, health facilities, educational institutions, electricity, water, gas
supplies etc.
• Increase in crime rate- is resulted due to rural-urban migration. Due to lack of employment
opportunities, people resort to anti-social activities.
• Social and psychological problems.
• Unplanned growth of cities.

Q) Why do people migrate to other countries?

• Unemployment or underemployment in one’s own country.
• Developmental projects in other states increase job opportunities.
• Glamorous life-style and better civic for people.
• Flawed system (corruption, delay of justice of one’s own country).
• Relaxation of immigration policy by other states.

→ Sustainable population growth refers to the population size that can be supported by available
resources.
Problems caused by unsustainable population growth:
• Shortage of food (increased prices).
• Unemployment rises.
• Shortage of housing facilities/over crowded housing.
• Standard of living falls and many families pushed below poverty line.
• Increase in crime.
• Pressure on health facilities – increased diseases.
• Unaffordability of education – illiteracy.
• Traffic congestion.
• Pollution etc.

Q) How can population rate be reduced by family planning?

• Policy to reduce family size introduced by government successful in other countries (e.g. China).
• Ulemas/religious scholars can help (explaining that it is not against Islam).
• Can be easily introduced through governmental and Non-Governmental Organization programmes
(e.g. Behbud association, Green star clinics etc.).
• Contraceptives and other birth control devices can be provided cheaply.

Q) How can education be helpful in reducing population growth rate?

• Literate people having greater awareness of the problems of having larger families.
• Literate people having greater knowledge about population control and family planning.
• Education for females to delay their marriages.
• Females being educated means more career oriented women.
• The effects of population growth if taught in schools/institutions to be more effective in bringing
awareness.

Immigration:
People entering/moving into a country/area for settlement.

Emigration:
People moving out of a country/area for settlement elsewhere.

Causes of emigration:
• Unemployment/underemployment especially amongst educated people.
• Greater job prospects abroad.
• The idea of better life-style abroad/higher standard of living.
• Political instability/terrorism etc. (factors increasing uncertainty).
• Attractive immigration policies in some countries.
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• Asylum.

Q) What are the effects emigration on economy?

• Remittances sent back by Pakistanis working abroad helps economy/balance of payments.
• Unemployment rate decreases for those who are left behind.
• New idea/initiatives coming back with returning emigrants.
• Better living standard provided to the family left behind.
• Lesser pressure on resources.
• Loss of skilled/educated work force.

Seasonal migration is moving from one place/area to another place/area according to the time or season of
the year.
E.g. transhumance.

Population density: average number of individuals in a population per unit area.

Population distribution is the spread of people in a given area.

Problems in controlling birth rate of Pakistan:

• Lack of education.
• Lack of women empowerment to control family size.
• Traditional opposition to contraception.
• Inconsistent government policies (aimed at family planning).
• Early marriages.
• Traditional beliefs encouraging larger families.

There are several reasons that people may give for wanting to live in a particular area but most fall into four
broad categories:

Physical Factors
Socioeconomic Factors
• Mountainous v/s flat
• Employment opportunities
• Rivers and swamps
• Recreational opportunities
• Dry areas
• Availability of utilities & services
• Windward v/s leeward areas

Why do people
settle in different
areas of their
countries?

Cultural Factors Historical Factors

• Cultural values of close • Settlement patterns of the
community living and being one previous generation
with nature • Existing infrastructure from past
• Ways of life such as hunting and settlements such as road
fishing networks, ports and buildings
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Types, causes and remedies of unemployment

There are four main types of unemployment. They are:
1. Frictional unemployment
2. Structural unemployment
3. Seasonal unemployment
4. Cyclical unemployment

Type Description Cause Remedy

Delays in applying, Improve job information,
Workers temporarily
Frictional interviewing and e.g. computerized job
between jobs.
accepting jobs. centers.
Workers have the wrong Declining industries and Subsidies and improve
Structural
skills in the wrong place. the immobility of labor. the mobility of labor.
All firms need fewer Low total demand in the Increased government
Cyclical
workers. economy. spending or lower taxes.
Unemployment for part of Seasonal variation in
Seasonal retraining
the year. demand.

Unemployment (the state of being unemployed)

Causes Effects Solutions

• Low level of education • Mental health issues • Better education
• Mechanization • Physical health issues • Motivation programs
• Use of Information • Lower life expectancy • Programs against drug
Technology • Homelessness addiction and
• High rate of population • Drug abuse homelessness
growth (Lesser jobs • Poverty • Fight racism
available) • Social isolation • Fight discrimination
• Mental issues • Adverse effects on • Support programs for
• Physical health problems children mental issues
• Gender discrimination • Criminal activities • Subsidies for companies
• Racism • Economic effects that are reintegrating
• Rural-Urban migration unemployed persons
• Homelessness • Fiscal and monetary
• Burnout measures in a financial
• Structurally weak regions crisis situation
• Lack of motivation • Fight structural
unemployment
• Create jobs