An Inter-Provincial Workshop of Population Research Centers (PRCs), 2023

Past, Present, and Future of Population Studies and Demographic Research

The population challenge of Pakistan is ever-growing, and with changing climate and resource scarcity, it is becoming a defining contest for our existence as well as achieving global development goals on sustainable grounds i.e., the SDGs 2030. With population growth hovering around 2.55 percent (according to the 2023 census), Pakistan is struggling to meet the basic needs of the population in terms of providing health care, education, water and sanitation, etc. Furthermore, after the 18th amendment, provincial autonomy has been declared a major economic and political tool that has strong implications for better managing and understanding population dynamics and demography. Due to provincial autonomy, it is the responsibility of provinces to formulate provincial policies relevant to pertinent issues like population and well-being. In this backdrop, the Centre of Excellence on Population and Wellbeing Studies (CePwS) conducted a two-day workshop where Population Research Centers (PRCs) from all four provinces came together under one roof to discuss the various challenges that Pakistan’s population faces, how these issues should be tackled, and how the PRCs can collaborate to ensure a prosperous and productive future for the country’s population.