{"id":10336,"date":"2025-08-08T11:47:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=10336"},"modified":"2025-08-08T11:48:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:48:00","slug":"pm-shehbaz-calls-for-national-policy-to-address-pakistans-rapid-population-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/asia\/pm-shehbaz-calls-for-national-policy-to-address-pakistans-rapid-population-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Shehbaz calls for national policy to address Pakistan\u2019s rapid population growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday termed Pakistan\u2019s annual population growth rate of 2.55 per cent, an alarming trend requiring immediate and coordinated policy action at the national level to address the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prime minister chaired a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister\u2019s Office to review the challenges posed by Pakistan\u2019s rising population and to deliberate on effective strategies to manage it, a Prime Minister\u2019s Office news release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe need comprehensive planning to ensure our growing population, especially the youth, becomes a productive part of the economy,\u201d he stressed. \u201cA large segment of our population comprises young people, who are the most valuable asset for our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He emphasized that the government was taking several initiatives to empower the youth and integrate them into the country\u2019s economic mainstream. \u201cOpportunities are being created to enable our youth to play a central role in national development,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking on gender inclusion, PM Shehbaz underlined the critical importance of women\u2019s participation in the workforce. \u201cWomen constitute a significant portion of our human capital. We must ensure greater employment opportunities for them,\u201d he directed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Prime Minister instructed the formation of a committee to develop a comprehensive and effective national policy, in close collaboration with provincial governments. \u201cA unified and strategic response is the need of the hour,\u201d he asserted, calling for a coordinated federal-provincial framework to tackle population-related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also stressed the importance of launching a nationwide awareness campaign to educate citizens about the implications of unchecked population growth, especially in the context of sustainable economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the meeting, the Prime Minister was briefed on various proposals and recommendations to manage population growth. Officials stressed that any long-term solution would require active provincial collaboration and public engagement at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The meeting was participated by Federal Minister for Planning and Development Dr. Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Education Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar, along with senior officials from relevant institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday termed Pakistan\u2019s annual population growth rate of 2.55 per cent, an alarming trend requiring immediate and coordinated policy action at the national level to address the issue. The prime minister chaired a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister\u2019s Office to review the challenges posed by Pakistan\u2019s rising [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,396,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-latest","category-paksitan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}