LAHORE: Punjab Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Thursday the population bomb is becoming a threat to water, food and other resources.
The existing schools, hospitals, public transport and other resources are becoming scarce and the growing and uncontrolled population is becoming a challenge day by day, she warned while speaking at a seminar on ‘A Case for Further Investment in Family Planning for Population Stabilisation in Punjab’. The event was organised by the Population Council, in collaboration with Punjab Health and Population Department, with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), under the Delivering Accelerated Family Planning in Pakistan (DAFPAK) programme.
The Punjab government has completed Punjab Socio-Economic Registry — to be unveiled this month — which provides critical data about Punjab’s exact population, families, households and individuals to devise policies with a view to uplifting living standards of people in the province.
“Population growth is not just a statistical matter but one that is closely linked to human development, food security, healthcare, education, and economic opportunities. A total of 60,000 Lady Health Workers (LHWs), having access to households, collected this data, which will help improve development planning, social protection, employment, healthcare and immunisation, education, and the delivery of other public services,” said Senior Minister Punjab Marriyum Aurangzeb.
Marriyum said the Punjab government was fully committed to making population stabilisation a top development priority. This is not a challenge government could address alone; it requires the collective commitment of families, communities, religious leaders, private sector and development partners. “Punjab is ready to lead by translating evidence into action,” she added.
Describing population stabilisation as central to Punjab’s economic growth and human capital development, Marriyum announced that the Punjab government was adopting a whole-of-government approach to accelerate fertility decline, expand access to voluntary family planning and scale up evidence-based interventions across the province.
She appreciated the Population Council’s decades-long contribution to evidence generation, policy advocacy and family planning innovation, noting that its proven models are now ready for wider implementation. She further announced that the chief minister Punjab would personally oversee progress on the population agenda, reinforcing the government’s commitment to integrating population considerations into planning, budgeting and service delivery. “The Punjab government is ready to collaborate with media and provide credible data to help sensitise people to achieve population stabilisation.”
Provincial Minister for Health and Population Khawaja Imran Nazir said the Punjab government had allocated a significant budget for the sector and, under the leadership of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, was prioritising coordinated awareness campaigns on population planning. He said university students would be engaged as population ambassadors to promote informed decisions on reproductive health and family planning.
Reaffirming the government’s commitment to strengthening primary healthcare and expanding equitable access to quality family planning services, he said strong political leadership must be matched by stronger health systems, uninterrupted contraceptive supplies and collaboration with development partners and the private sector.
Secretary Health and Population Nadia Saqib said the merger of the Primary and Secondary Healthcare and Population departments under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz reflected an integrated approach to addressing health and population issues, supported by a strengthened referral mechanism.
The event brought together senior government officials, parliamentarians, development partners and public health experts to review Punjab’s demographic outlook and identify practical strategies to accelerate fertility decline through voluntary, rights-based family planning.
Population Council Pakistan Country Director Dr Ali Mohammad Mir said Punjab’s population had increased by 18 million between 2017 and 2023 to 128 million, while the fertility rate had declined from 3.6 in 2017 to 3.0 in 2026, with a target of reducing it further to 2.2 by 2030. He highlighted successful initiatives under the FCDO-supported DAFPAK programme, including the PAIDAR project, which enabled more than 805 private family physicians to provide services to over 67,000 clients, a digital family planning voucher scheme benefiting over 22,000 low-income women, and data-driven and behaviour change initiatives aimed at expanding access to quality family planning services across Punjab.
Ben Warrington, Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, Lahore, reaffirmed the long-standing UK-Punjab partnership on expanding access to quality services. He commended Punjab government for the scale and ambition of recent reforms, including Clinics on Wheels, community health inspectors, mobile health clinics and the integration of population welfare with primary healthcare — a reform he described as creating aligned systems, aligned financing and aligned delivery. He welcomed the announcement about the Population Council by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“The economic case for stabilising the population is fundamental,” he said, noting that Pakistan needs to create around 60 million jobs by 2050 for its growing workforce, and that the country’s GDP would be an estimated 56 per cent higher today, had past population growth been more moderate. He highlighted that the UK’s flagship family planning programme has reached 11 million users, averting millions of unintended pregnancies and saving lives, and stressed that impact comes from connecting informed demand with quality supply.
Earlier, Dr Zeba A. Sathar, distinguished scholar and Country Advisor, Population Council Pakistan, called for a comprehensive Punjab Population Stabilisation Plan based on strong political leadership, sustained financing, quality family planning services, strategic communication and greater accountability.
During a panel discussion, Dr Mushtaq Ahmed Sulehria, Dr Saima Zubair and Capt (retd) Dr Usman Ali Khan stressed stronger private-sector engagement, better counselling, expanded postpartum family planning, greater male involvement and uninterrupted contraceptive supplies.
Punjab Social Protection Authority Vice Chairperson Jahan Ara Manzoor Wattoo called for an integrated approach across government departments, highlighting the Punjab Socio-Economic Registry as a key resource for evidence-based policymaking and advocating the integration of family planning with social protection, education and women’s empowerment programmes.
Punjab Assembly members Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Aoun Hameed, Ishrat Ashraf, Kanwal Liaquat and former Population Welfare Minister Zakia Shahnawaz expressed support for the agenda, while speakers thanked the Jang/Geo Group for its Waqfa family planning awareness campaign. The event concluded with a commitment from government leaders, parliamentarians, development partners and technical experts to strengthen collaboration and scale up evidence-based family planning interventions to support Punjab’s population stabilisation goals.
