Runaway Population of Pakistan is a Ticket to Disaster

My collection of key Population of Pakistan statistics and conclusions will convince you that the country is headed toward a major upheaval, again.

Also, see

Pakistan has had two thorough population censuses in 1998 and 2017 and these are the findings, combining both the results.

Table of Contents

What is the current Population of Pakistan in 2022?

Pakistan Population in 2022 was 240 Million, or 24 Crore, including 1.4 million people of Gilgit-Baltistan and FATA and 4 Million people of Azad Kashmir Territory.

Pakistan, India and Bangladesh Population Comparison

India’s population is 1.392 Billion or 1392 crore
The population of Bangladesh is 166.26 million or 16.6 crore

Pakistan population in 1947

At the time of the Partition Pakistan’s population was 32.5 million

Pakistan population growth

Pakistan increases its population by about 5 million per year at a growth rate of 2.4%.

Whereas China with a population of 1.4 Billion added 12 million kids, and
Bangladesh’s growth rate was 1.1%.

Pakistan percentage increase in population in 2017

Since 1998, Pakistan has increased its population by 57 % up to 2017

From 132 million to 207 million, not including 8 million people of Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir.

Pakistan population density

Consequently, Pakistan’s population density has also increased to 282 people per square kilometer

Bangladesh is 1126 people per square kilometer, but they are not water-scarce and environmentally vulnerable as Pakistan is.

Pakistan population in 2050

Pakistan’s population will be 380 million by 2050, and

Will climb to the 3^rd spot on population notoriety in the world.

Pakistan population compared to the world

Pakistan is presently in 2021 the 5^th most populous country in the world,

While being 34^th according to the geographical area.
Pakistan has 2.83% of the world’s population in 2021

Pakistan demographic pyramid

Pakistan’s median age is 22.8 years, whereas
Bangladesh median age is 27.6,

This means Pakistan’s demographic triangle is wide at the base.

Pakistan urban cities population distribution

35% of Pakistan’s population lives in urban city areas and
50% of Pakistanis now live in a town of 5000 or more.

So, the whole country is urban sprawl.

The refugee population in Pakistan

Pakistan has 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees and

Approximately 2 million unregistered ones that include

Rohingya,
Indian Mohajir and
Kashmiris

Most of this population is uneducated and destitute.

Prevalence of Contraceptives in Pakistan

Contraceptive use in Pakistan is not prevalent in the population; just 30% have access to contraceptives.

This does not mean that women have any say in the matter.

Clerics preach the religious way of practicing contraception by breastfeeding newborn for two years but does not allow contraceptive devices.

Infant and Maternal mortality rate of Pakistan

Resultantly Pakistan’s women suffer

147 deaths per 1000 births ) and
child mortality (63 deaths in 1000 births)
22 births per 1000, which is comparable to Haiti

These are the highest in the region and 25^th in the world.

In comparison, Bangladesh’s Maternal and Child Mortality rates are 173 and 25 deaths per 1000.

This data shows the probably Pakistani health physicians are sacrificing the newborn to save the woman.

Population Growth and Reduced Well being

There is a known correlation between reduced well being and high population growth rates as the Gross national income (GNI) is difficult to keep up with a rapidly increasing workforce.

The Pakistani population is 64% below 29 years of age.

Pakistan adds 2 million job seekers to the market every year and barely meets the job requirement of a quarter of this figure.

This is because Pakistan’s population is mostly employed in agriculture and related services and no new farmlands, water sources, or reservoirs have been constructed in the last several decades.

This is a huge strain on the limited infrastructure, environment, and society.

Pakistan’s high fertility rate

Pakistan’s fertility per woman is 3.58 children per woman in 2018 and Bangladesh’s is 2.04, which means Pakistan is nearly doubling the population every generation.

With this fertility and the demographic bulge reaching the job market in a few years,

Pakistan Gross Domestic Product should be growing at twice the rate of 7% to be able to absorb the additional people

Correlation between female education and population control

There is also a known correlation between educating women and population control, child health, and nutrition. No one in Pakistan read this research.

In Pakistan, women’s literacy rates are at a dismal 47%, Bangladesh on the other hand is 71%. With a decreasing trend and this includes those who can do basic literacy tasks like reading, writing, and math.

Pakistan’s spending as a percentage of GDP is

on healthcare is 3.2% and
education is 2.3%
While on defense is more than 3.98% of GDP.

Whereas Bangladesh spends 2.34 % on health and 1.35% on education, and 1.34% on defense.

So, it is not something unexpected.

This translates into

low life expectancy 66 years (64.2 for men and 67.9 for women and
low productivity as measured by reducing Gross Domestic Product per capita $ 1285, whereas for Bangladesh it is increasing at $ 1855.

The future does not look good for Pakistani children

Nearly 10 million children in Pakistan are malnourished and stunted in their growth.

22.8 Million Children in Pakistan are out of school.

The demographic charts between Pakistan and India show that Pakistan’s young population is expanding rapidly and more are coming in.

INDIA PAKISTAN

Age Structure Population Comparison India and Pakistan

This means that the population control efforts, if any, are ineffective.

Conflicts in Pakistan and Population Growth

Major social upheavals in Pakistan and conflicts have occurred right after exponential growth in population entering the job market.

Pakistan has had major internal conflicts right after the sudden population jump

In the 1980s while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan
2001 fighting the Taliban backlash in the war against terror

Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in these decades

These conflicts can be traced back to insecurity, disempowerment, ignorance, poverty, and unemployment, in the population intensified by runaway population growth.

The decade of 2010 is the longest time democracy has survived, thereby giving some power back to people and the conflict has reduced.

Pakistan population on Human Development Index

With such a high childbirth rate and low spending g in health, it is no wonder that child and mother mortality rates are also the highest in the region.

With limited resources and means to feed people, Pakistan is in the bottom tier countries (154 out of 180 whereas Bangladesh is 135) as far as human development is concerned.

Pakistan surplus manpower export

With this low-quality manpower, Pakistan has not been able to export the manpower like regional countries shave India 0.34 Million, Bangladesh (0.73 million per year) Pakistan 0.38 million per year.

Most of Pakistan’s population is concentrated in Punjab province, its breadbasket, and employed in agriculture but with limited cultivable farm and water resources, serious conflict is in the making.

Pakistani Population in United Kingdom

Already there are 0.7 Million Pakistani origin people in UK and that is not a coincidence. It is because of conditions back home.

Environmental Catastrophe due to overpopulation in Pakistan

This conflict and social discontent can easily be triggered by the exceptional environmental damage as

The forest cover has been reduced to 2.2 % in 8 decades
Global warming environmental effects on livelihoods and health
Pakistan is the 10^th most vulnerable climate-affected country in the world.
Pakistan will be an acute water-scarce country by 2025

Pakistan empowerment stats on Women

Pakistan has dismal women participation stats also 75 % of women do not seek employment outside the home.

When women are not financially secure, they cannot make decisions about their offspring.

Pakistan has the worst women empowerment stats 151 out of 153 countries in the gender parity index, making women merely breeding animals instead of contributing members of the state of Pakistan.

Old age insurance for the Elderly in Pakistan

Pakistan has no social net or insurance protecting retired citizens over 65 which is 4% of the population.

In the absence of quality education, skill training, and health, the lowest strata of society that is about 200 million strong, regard children as their old age protection.

Optimal Population for Pakistan

The optimal population for a country the size of Pakistan would be around 80 million, somewhat similar to Iran, replacing at the rate of 2.1% annually.

This is because

Pakistan has 75 million people below the poverty line that the state cannot handle within its resources, so these numbers are surplus.
Pakistan has 40 million middle class and can easily increase to 80 million with better education health and training.
Pakistan has 83 million internet users, which means the somewhat educated I Pakistan is that figure.

Those who have no land, no assets, no residence, no education, no health, and no skills have no chance to do well in an already overcrowded job market.

Where did Pakistan go wrong in population growth?

This youth bulge took an exponential turn after the Islamist general Zia ul Haq discontinued family planning programs in the late 1970s

His Islamization of Pakistani society and school syllabus has made it impossible to tell the poorly educated population to think independent of their cleric.
Politicians and the elite in Pakistan are too self-serving, and spineless, to care about the lower strata of society as long as they stay in power.
Poor spending in healthcare and education
Zero old age health insurance
Absence of democratic institutions protecting people’s rights
The repeated cycle of conflict is set about by egotistical dictators.

What does it look like in an overcrowded Pakistan

This rapid increase in population is visible on the streets for someone who has lived here over the decades

Now the roads and highways are packed with cars and vehicles that make maneuvering impossible.
With the anemic rate of growth, the governments’ capacity to deliver services to this vast crowd of uncivilized people, is impossible.
Uneducated masses cannot be trained on the finer points of democratic values.
Considering big services and companies are still in the hands of the government – this looks like it will never change.
The environmental damage in the rivers, streams, forests, flora, and fauna, and the suburban area is horrendous.
With poor attitudes toward the rule of law, religion, of the land, and nothing to lose, this massive crowd of have-nots is being held back just by a thin thread of religious obligation.
Pakistani population is totally under the control of clerics, mostly because of a regressive education system that promotes superstition instead of competency.
Then, the limited non-Muslim population (1.9% Hindu and 1.6 % Christian) does not allow enough exposure to Pakistanis to the other perspective

Well at least these clerics have helped Pakistan maintain a good male-to-female sex ratio of 1.04 males to 1.0 females

I haven’t even talked of the marginalized population of transgender, non-Muslims, mentally disabled, and bonded laborers.

Pakistan population’s empowerment

In the 8 decades of Pakistan’s existence, local bodies in the union councils have not been given the right to collect taxes, arbitrate conflicts, or make laws for their respective populations – this is the tyranny of the worst kind.

So, Pakistan’s cities are developing in huge shantytowns, with seas of poverty, filth, crumbling infrastructure, and indifference.

With so poor spending on health, 70% of all outpatient visits in Pakistan are in private hospitals.

Overpopulation problems of the provinces in Pakistan

It makes no sense to have a single mega province like Punjab with 53% of the total population that comprises 26% of the total area of Pakistan.

Especially, when the language of South Punjab is also different.

Pakistan Punjab Population

Pakistani Punjab has at least 127 million people, the highest in any province.

Then Baluchistan, the most backward, uneducated, unemployed province has the largest landmass of 42% of the total area with just 6% of the population which isn’t even homogeneous.

The population of Baluchistan does not all speak Baluchi and are not ethnically Baloch.52% and speak Pushto 36%.

Both Punjab and Baluchistan provinces need to be split along the north-south plane.

Pakistan’s Army population

Pakistan Army is about 0.5 million people but with the allied security forces and paramilitaries, the total population becomes 0.7 Million inside Pakistan and they are the super elite of the country.

Conclusion

Pakistan will not be in a position to use its youthful demographic for a long time to come, because of the undemocratic dispensation of government, superstitious beliefs, and poor spending in education, health, skills, and women’s empowerment.

If the Pakistani elite does not grow a conscience very soon, this sea of desperation will not just be knocking on their palatial doors!

So, Sayonara Pakistani rulers !