Pakistan: Alarming rise in Population

Pakistan's overall population rose by 47 percent in just 14 years, according to preliminary results of the housing listings 2011. This is a very disturbing figure as it necessitates a Gross Domestic Product growth in excess of 7 percent per annum just to sustain the existing quality of life. The fact that our growth rate is stagnating to under 3.5 percent, partly due to global recession, partly due to the government's failure to implement austerity reforms and partly due to the severe ongoing energy crisis that has compelled the government to revise its growth statistics, is a source of serious concern to economists in general and social scientists in particular. The population density of China and India is considerably higher than Pakistan's and yet the two countries have emerged as enviable economies. The blame in Pakistan's case, analysts maintain, can be placed on the doorstep of successive governments, including the incumbent government, because outlay on education remains appallingly low, well below the United Nations recommended minimum of 2 percent of GDP while China and India have invested and continue to invest heavily in education. It is their sustained effort to invest in higher education that accounts for about 80 percent of those on the Fortune top income earners' list being of Indian origin. There are two major reasons behind Pakistan's sustained failure to invest in education. First and foremost, analysts maintain that low education levels are a means to ensure that the baradari system remains intact which allows the area landlord to win local, provincial and national elections. There is a perception in Pakistan backed by numerous studies around the world that an educated citizenry would link development in the area, inclusive of social and physical infrastructure, with the performance of the elected official/politician and that would determine their voting patterns in the next elections. Thus politically it is just not considered expedient to invest adequately in the education sector. Secondly, investment in education has long-term national gains and with politicians focused on the next general election Pakistani governments would rather spend on sectors with a quicker turnaround period. Additionally, children of Pakistani politicians as well as of the elite rarely study in local schools, colleges and universities which accounts for their low interest in this sector. Budgetary allocations for development (as opposed to the current) component of the education sector were periodically subjected to a massive cut whenever the federal government was unable to meet its budget deficit target. This unfortunately has occurred with an alarming frequency. However, with the devolution of education ministry to the provinces the total national development outlay on education has become difficult to quantify and there are fears that the total national outlay has declined as the provinces struggle to meet natural challenges. For example, floods in Sindh and dengue in the Punjab last year. There is thus an urgent need for the governments - federal as well as provincial - to turn their attention towards not only investing adequately in the education sector but also in population or family planning.