Pakistan aims to reduce population growth rate at 1.9 pct

Pakistan aims to reduce population growth rate at 1.9 pct

ISLAMABAD, July 10 (Xinhua) — The Pakistani government aims to reduce the country’s population growth rate from the present 2.16 percent to 1.9 percent by 2004.

The total population of Pakistan in 2002 stood at 146 million with high fertility and the government fully recognizes the severe socio-economic implications of rapid population growth, said a report by the UN Population Fund and the Pakistani government to celebrate the World Population Day falling on Friday.

The Pakistani government tries to implement an effective population policy made in 2002, which plans to bring down the country’s population growth rate from its current level to 1.9 percent by the year 2004 and 1.3 percent by 2020, said the 89-page Pakistan Population Assessment 2003.

To achieve this end, fertility is planned to be reduced from about five to four births per woman by 2004, the report stated.

To reduce population growth rate and improve the quality of life of the people, Pakistan has implemented its own family planning which can enable couples to decide the number and spacing of their children and provide the information and the means to do so.

In recent years, the report said, there has been a substantial rise in knowledge about different family planning methods and 96 percent of currently married women are aware of at least one method.