KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and intellectuals Forum, Mian Zahid Hussain has said that the number of children born in Pakistan yearly is more than the total population of some developed countries.
He added that the country’s economy and resources cannot bear the burden of an increase of six million people per year. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the population growth rate in Pakistan is very high.
In contrast, our growth rate is even lower than that of African countries, which shows the deterioration of the situation.
He said that Pakistan’s population growth rate is 2.55%, India’s 0.7%, China’s 0.1% and Bangladesh’s 1.1%.
Due to the weak economy and growing population, forty percent of children in the country lack adequate nutrition; the maternal and child mortality rate is the highest in the world, he said.
He that apart from Afghanistan, only Pakistan is the country where polio disease has not been eradicated as yet. Much of the population lacks clean drinking water; jaundice and tuberculosis are common, and one in four adults has diabetes.
Mian Zahid further said that nearly two and a half million children in Pakistan are deprived of schooling, and a few percent of those who have access to schools are compelled to seek substandard education.
Pakistan is also at the top in terms of environmental pollution, and its cities are often ranked among the most polluted cities in the world.
In these circumstances, the influential groups of the society have devised their systems for managing health, education, security, housing, water employment, etc.
He said that some economic stability has come from the IMF standby agreement, along with the recent successful review of the IMF, investors’ confidence has also increased, due to which the stock exchange rose by 58,000 points.
Exports and remittances have also seen an increase in the last month. The value of the rupee has stabilized. Due to SIFC’s initiatives, people’s confidence in the country’s economic future has increased.
More political and economic stability is expected in case of an election. Despite all these positive signs, the country’s long-standing problems are still in place, for the solution of which the whole nation will have to unite, and there is no chance for chaos and politics of vandalism, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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