World Population Year (January 01, 1974)

Stamp is horizontal in format. A small Pakistani family comprising of father, mother, a boy and a girl is shown on the left side of the stamp and the insignia of the World Population Year on the right. The concern of rapid population growth is on the increase all over the globe. Most of the advanced countries of the world are aiming at zero rate of population growth while the developing countries shave set a goal of halving the growth within a short period. Sensing the concern of the member countries, the United Nations Organization has designated 1974 as the World Population Year to improve know-ledge and information on facts concerning population trends and prospects and to sharpen awareness and heighten apprecia-tion of population problems and their im-plications. The important aims of World Population Year projects are; research, studies and surveys on population problem conferences, seminars and meetings around the World, training and formal and infor-mal education concerning population prog-ramme to develop awareness of the prob-lem and project efforts to meet the chall-enge. Pakistan is an early signatory to the “Declaration on Population” where the heads of states expressed their conviction concerning the importance of problems for national planning of economic goals and for the achievement of lasting peace, their belief in the right of parents to plan the size of their families and the view that the enrichment of human life is the objective of family planning. As an active member of United Nations Organization, Pakistan is observing the World Population Year 1974 in a most enthusiastic way taking part in and planning on its own multifarious activities.

The concern shown by the Peoples Government over the problems of population growth is well known. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corpora-tion, Prime Minister Mr. Z. A. Bhutto remarked:— “Population pressure is very great on our people and we have to make efforts to con-trol the growth of population We are gro-wing at the rate of 2.5 to 3per cent and that is far too much. Very soon we will be eating ourselves at this rate. So if the people are made to realise the implications of the population explosion, 1 think they themselves will also try to exercise discipline. At the sane time the State has a responsibility and I don’t believe that I would be fair to our pee-pie if I shirked this responsibility”. The present Government attaches high. priority to an effective population planning programme. Strong and persistent efforts are necessary in this sector to maintain balance between resources and population. The Government therefore considers that a positive programme of population planning is not only necessary, but vital for the economic betterment of the country. Unless the rate of population increase is imme-diately controlled, all the economic gains would be wiped out by the disturbing popu-lation growth.
The population planning programme does not aim at reducing the population The purpose of the programme is to educate the married population and provide them with population planning services in order to enable them to achieve spacing between child births thus ensuring better health of the couple particularly mothers. The prog-ramme is designed to determine the feasible size of their families resulting in the pro-motion of health standard of the indivi-dual and the nation. Its reach is confined to married couples who so desire to plan the size of their families and its prime objective is to improve the social conditions in the country and promote health standard of the nation.
The Fourth Five Year Plan is a period of expanded and intensified efforts. The administrative structure is designed to ap-proach all fertile couples in the country, to maintain regular and continued contact with them and to report systematically on the outcome of each such contact. People’s Gov-ernment has a declared objective to amelio-rate the lot of the common man. Population Planning Programme is a gigantic effort to maintain balance between the material and physical resources of the na-tion. The total size of the programme in the country which was Rs. 221.45 lakhs in 1965-66 at its inception and Rs. 279.23 lakhs in the last year of the previous re-gimes rose under the present Government to Rs. 340.15 lakhs in 1972-73 and Rs.1025.1O lakhs in 1973-74. This increase speaks for itself about the unprecedented effort and progress made in this field.
A multi-dimensional publicity prog-ramme has been enforced depending mostly on inter-personnel contacts but mobilising also indirect publicity on Radio, TV and other mass media.
The crude birth rate which stood at 50 per thousand in 1955 and was estimated by the Planning Commission to be 45 per thousand in 1970. The programme now aims to bring down the rate to 40 per thousand by 1975.