Pakistan, Population Programmes and Progress

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1997, 50 years after the partitioning of United India from the British Raj. For Pakistan (fig 1), this was also a time to evaluate the health and population status of its people. In Pakistan, during the 1940s, population growth rates begin to accelerate as health improvements lengthened life expectancy and birth rates remained high. In 1947, at the time of independence, Pakistan’s population was 31 million. By 1995 it had escalated to 140 million