WORLD POPULATION DAY, World population poised to reach 9.8 billion by 2050

World Population Day (WPD) is observed on the 11th of July every year. Governments, NGOs, educational institutions and media houses across the world observe this day as a national and global cause to highlight the seriousness of the issue of population growth and to educate people in this regard. It is pertinent to mention here that the other world days e.g. World Environment Day, Earth Day, World Water Day, International Women’s Day, one way or another, are related to the side effects of abnormal growth of world population. Hence, the WPD can be called a real WORLD DAY. The 11th of July was chosen as WPD in 1989, signifying the same day in 1987 when world population touched the five billion mark. This year’s WPD theme is “Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations.”

Major reasons to observe this day include:

1. To create awareness among the masses, especially the youth who are likely to be included in the reproductive cycle of life, on the seriousness of the issue of rapid growth of world population so that they keep smaller the size of their families.
2. To educate the people on the importance of contributing to the global target of achieving Zero Population Growth (ZPG). Demographers have a consensus that ZPG is the only solution to keep this earth habitable.
3. To apprise the people that family planning i.e. to keep the size of the family (number of children) smaller, is a safe and secure method to control population growth.
4. To discourage gender discrimination by informing the women that they have an equal right to determine the size of the family.
5. To educate youth on avoiding unwanted pregnancies by using contraceptives and other reasonable, youth-friendly measures.
6. To provide both girls and boys with opportunities for equal access to education.
7. To ensure that contraceptives are made available across the world, especially in the developing countries and specifically in their rural areas.

Total population of the world at the start of 1 AD i.e. 2017 years ago, was around 250 million — far less than that current population of the United States of America. It took 1650 years for the world population to double i.e. 500 million. Next double happened in 1804 (154 years) when the world population, for the first time, touched the one billion mark, which is far less than the current population of India. Next population double was the quickest one, as it took only 47 years to touch the figure of 4 billion. During this double, there was a growing recognition that such a tremendous growth in population is an extremely serious issue because organic food resources of the earth were threateningly insufficient to feed the 4 billion mouths. That is why Green Revolution was made to happen and scientists made Genetically-Modified Seeds (GMS) in order to produce 4-5 times more cereal crops. Next doubling is estimated to occur in the year 2023. It is not, however, being considered a failure on the part of the developing countries which contribute almost 90 percent to world’s total population growth.

Seriousness of the issue of rapid population growth was first highlighted by Thomas Robert Malthus, in his famous book titled “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” which was published in 1798. The crux of his theory is that population growth is faster than the growth of natural resources, especially food and that if man does not control the population at his own, the nature will do the same with the help of natural calamities like droughts, famines, epidemics, wars, etc. “Were there no other depopulating causes, every country would, without doubt, be subject to periodical pestilences or famine,” he wrote.

Intellectuals around the world have an overwhelming consensus that there are two possible ways for the annihilation of life on earth: one is nuclear war and the other is the ticking bomb of unbridled population growth; the latter can put an end to life by disturbing, and eventually destroying, the ecological system or natural environment of the planet Earth. Issues like global warming, air and water pollution, water shortage, and deforestation, are some of the means to the destruction of natural environment. Gone are the days when people were wary of food, shelter and clothing; future threats are clean air, safe drinking water and pure/organic land. It can be witnessed from the fact that more than 1 billion people (every 7th person) in the world have no access to safe drinking water. People, especially those living in urban areas, have to purchase water – the price of one litre of water in urban areas of Pakistan is equal to that of one litre pure milk in rural areas). An unfortunate yet amazing prediction of the experts is that, in future, people would be buying cylinders of oxygen (pure air).

Pakistan is believed to be among top 5 countries which are facing critical issue of population growth. As mentioned earlier, Pakistan is the third largest country – after China and India – to witness an annual increase of 3.3 million in population. In Pakistan, population growth rate is much higher in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and FATA, particularly in rural areas. Population planning was introduced in the country during the reign of Ayub Khan and it continued at a larger scale during Bhutto Era. However, this programme, unfortunately, was practically rolled back during Zia regime in the name of Islamization. It really halted the process of population control as family planning centres were converted into simple healthcare centres and posters and boards highlighting the importance of small family size were removed from public gaze.

However, it is quite encouraging that the issue has got salience during the recent years and it is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that scholars from all religious schools of thought are educating people through the electronic and print media that to control population is not un-Islamic rather it is in accordance with the teachings of Islam. This step will go a long way in creating awareness among the masses, especially the illiterate people on this issue.

In Pakistan, female gender ratio is less than that of the males which clearly suggests that the birth of baby girl is generally discriminated, as desire for baby boy is cherished. According to the 1998 census, females were 48% of the country’s population, males being the remaining 52%. Pakistan needs to learn from the success stories of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Turkey, as these countries have successfully controlled their populations.

Muslim world, as a whole, has the highest population growth rate in world, which by every means is a dangerous thing. Another strange and unfortunate aspect is the holding of population census irregularly. Population census was held regularly till 1981, but it took seventeen long years for conducting the next census i.e. in 1998, though it should have been conducted in 1991. After that, we should have conducted population census in 2008 at the most, but it is being conducted in 2017 and it clearly shows that controlling population has not been a priority for all the successive governments (civilian and military alike) in Pakistan. One must bear in mind that India and Bangladesh conduct censuses regularly at the start of every decade. According to this schedule, Bangladesh and India held their respective censuses in 2011 and they are on the road to conduct the next one in 2021.

Solutions to the Problem

1. Education is considered an indirect contraceptive, as it, on the one hand, causes delayed marriages while also creates awareness among the educated youth to consider population growth as a problem, on the other.
2. At a time when the Muslim world is witnessing the highest population growth rate in the world, misinterpretation of the religion is a big hurdle to adopting population control methods. So, religious scholars’ sermons (especially in rural areas) and advertisements should be used to neutralize the misperceptions the people may have. This has been done successfully in the Muslim countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia.
3. Laws on the age of marriage should be strictly implemented and child marriages must be stopped at every cost.
4. Research data suggest that number of children per woman is far less (1-2 children) among the working women. So, women’s employment should be encouraged.
5. Major thrust of population planning campaign and family planning centres should be the rural areas of Pakistan as they have much higher population growth rate as compared to urban centres.
6.  A massive campaign should be launched to discourage the desire for male baby in developing countries like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh because many couples, who have 4-5 daughters, keep on producing children to fulfil the desire for a male child.
7. Population growth as a problem should be made part of the curricula right from the school up to the university level.

Points to Remember

•  There are more males (50.5%) than females (49.5%) in the total population of the world. So, it’s wrong to assume that women are 51%.
• China became the first country with one billion population in 1982, followed by India which achieved the status in 1999. It is estimated that by 2023, India will cross China to become the world’s most populated country.
• China introduced one-child policy in 1979 and implemented it as a strict law. Data reveal that with the help of this policy, China has stopped an increase of, at least, 450 million people, which is more than the total population of USA. The one-child policy has, however, been revised to two children in 2016.
• Pakistan is the third largest country, after China and India, in terms of net population growth. At the time of independence, Pakistan (the then-West Pakistan) was the 14th largest country in the world with a population of 33 million whereas, at present, it is the 6th most populated country.
•  Bangladesh, at the time of secession from Pakistan, had more population than the then-West Pakistan, but they successfully controlled their population. Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Albania and Bosnia are the other Muslim countries that controlled population growth successfully.
• Most developed countries have zero population growth (ZPG) — births in these countries are almost equal to deaths in a given period of time. However, among the Muslims countries, only Albania and Bosnia have negative population growth.
• World population clock is faster than the time clock – every two seconds, 5 persons are added in world population.
• It is estimated that when the results of population census 2017 will be announced, total population of Pakistan could be well above 210 million which can make it the fifth largest country in the world, crossing Brazil.