Pakistan with an estimated population of around 142.5 million
in mid 2001 is the seventh most populous country in the world and fourth
in Asia and Pacific countries. The historical trends indicate a
continuously increasing growth in population (Table 1). The population
of the area now constituting Pakistan was 16.6 million in 1901. Since
then the population has increased over eight-fold. Annual growth rates
have risen from 1 percent in the first three decades of the century to
around 2 percent in the next three decades and after peaking at little
over 3 percent in the 1960s, has started showing a declining trend.
Currently it is estimated that Pakistan’s population is growing at
around 2.1 percent, still a very high rate of annual growth in
population. Major contributing factor to the fast growth in population
of Pakistan has been high fertility which has remained high for a very
long period. It is evident that nearly 100 million population has been
added to the population of Pakistan since 1961, that is, during the last
four decades. Such rapid growth in population has several adverse
implications for the socio-economic development of the country which has
been offsetting the gains in social and economic development.