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POPULATION POLICY:Goals of Population Policy, Objectives, Strategies

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Introduction to Sociology ­ SOC101
VU
Lesson 40
POPULATION POLICY
A policy is a formalized set of procedures to guide behavior. The purpose of policy could be either to alter
or maintain consistency of behavior to achieve a specific goal.
Population policy is a strategy for achieving a particular pattern of population change. Population policy
may be single purpose like reducing crude birth rate by 20 per 1000 or it could be multifaceted like
rationalizing the reproductive behavior.
For population policy it is necessary to assess the future population trends and its implications. One has to
look into the population projection (like in how many years population will double?) What will be the
expected socioeconomic consequences of the  demographic trends? Should we let these demographic
trends continue? If the (future) demographic trends are not in the expected directions then one has to look
into its causes? What interventions could be introduced to reach the desired demographic results with the
desired socioeconomic consequences? Such a scenario could be seen from the following figure:
Population Change
PAST
FUTURE
Interventions
Expected
Expected
Socioeconomic
Demographi
Consequences
c Trend
Causes
Desired
Desired
Demographi
Socioeconomic
Consequences
c Result
Pop. Trend
Future oriented people need policy. Population policies may be for retarding growth, or promoting growth
or it could be for maintaining population growth. No country can ignore the issue of population policy.
An important question is: Is present population explosion in Pakistan the result of high fertility? How
about the rapidly declining death rate and increasing life expectancy? There in fact is "the man's triumph
over death." We do find that the total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen the world wide which is 3.6. In the
developing countries it has come down to 4.1 children per woman. Nevertheless, Pakistan is still passing
through the demographic transition where the birth rate has lagged behind the declining death rate. This
cultural lag has already resulted in population explosion.
In Pakistan the TFR has come down to 4.1 which is still very high. The fertility rate that produces
stabilization of population is the replacement level which is 2.1 births per woman. The TFR in Pakistan is
twice high than the replacement level.
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Introduction to Sociology ­ SOC101
VU
Given the structure of population in Pakistan it may be pointed out that even if we reach the replacement
level population growth will continue. The important reason being the young population age structure of
Pakistan. This is usually referred to as population momentum which means the tendency of the population size
to increase for some time even after a two child family average is reached. Since record number of young
people are entering the childbearing ages therefore the population may continue to grow for three more
decades even after the acceptance of two child family norms, which is a replacement level.
Vision of Population Policy
The government of Pakistan launched its latest population policy in July 2002. The overall vision of the
population policy is to achieve population stabilization by 2020 through the expeditious completion of the
demographic transition leading to declines both in fertility and mortality rates.
Goals of Population Policy
The population policy seeks to:
1. Attain a balance between resources and population within the broad parameters of the ICPD
paradigm. (ICPD is the international conference on population and development, which was held
in Cairo in 1994. In this conference a good number of NGOs participated. It was decided that in
future there shall be more emphasis on reproductive health. Family planning shall be part of
reproductive health. There was lot of emphasis on women rights).
2. Address various dimensions of population issue within national laws, development priorities while
remaining within our national social and cultural norms.
3. Increase awareness of the adverse consequences of rapid population growth both at the national,
provincial, district and community level.
4. Provide family planning as an entitlement based on informed and voluntary choice.
5. Attain a reduction in fertility through improvement in access and quality of reproductive health
services.
6. Reduce population momentum through a delay in the first birth, changing spacing patterns and
reduction in family size desires.
Objectives
1. Short Term
a.
Reduce population growth to 1.9 percent per annum by 2004. (Government of Pakistan claims that
this objective has been achieved).
b. Reduce fertility through enhanced voluntary contraception to 4 births per woman by the year 2004.
(Government of Pakistan claims that this objective has been achieved)
2. Long Term
a.
Reduce population growth rate from 1.9 percent per annum in 2004 to 1.3 percent per annum by
the year 2020.
b. Reduce fertility through enhanced voluntary contraceptive adoption to replacement level of 2.1
births per woman by 2020.
c.  Universal access to safe family planning methods by 2010.
Strategies
1. Develop and launch advocacy campaigns to address special groups, such as, policy makers,
opinion leaders, youth and adolescents.
2. Promote the small family norm through innovative incentive schemes for users, clients,
parents, service providers and program managers.
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Introduction to Sociology ­ SOC101
VU
3. Increase ownership of population issues by the stakeholders and strengthen their
participation in the processes of service delivery and program design.
4. Reduce unmet need for family planning services by making available quality family
planning family planning and reproductive health services to all married couples who want
to limit or space their children.
5. Ensure the provision of quality services especially to the poor, under-served populations in
the rural areas and urban slums.
6. Coordinate and monitor a comprehensive network of family planning and reproductive
health services in Pakistan.
7. Build strong partnership with concerned line Ministries, Provincial line Departments, Non-
Governmental Organizations and the private sector, including industrial sector to maintain
standards in family planning by providing assistance/guidance through advocacy, training,
monitoring and other means of participation and quality assurance.
8. Strengthen contribution to population activities by civil society players, particularly NGOs
and media.
9. Ensure population and family life education for school and college students.
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Table of Contents:
  1. THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY:Auguste Comte, The Fields of Sociology
  2. THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:Society affects what we do
  3. THEORETICAL PARADIGMS:Salient Paradigms, Critical Evaluation
  4. SOCIOLOGY AS SCIENCE:Empirical, Verifiable, Cumulative, Self-Correcting
  5. STEPS IN SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION:Exploration/Consultation
  6. SOCIAL INTERACTION:Social Status, ROLE, The Social Construction of Reality
  7. SOCIAL GROUPS:Primary and Secondary Groups, Reference Group, Networks
  8. ORGANIZATIONS:Utilitarian Organizations, Coercive Organizations
  9. CULTURE:Universality, Components of Culture, Symbols, Language
  10. CULTURE (continued):Beliefs, Norms, Cultural Diversity
  11. CULTURE (continued):Culture by social class, Multiculturalism, Cultural Lag
  12. SOCIALIZATION: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, NATURE, Social Isolation
  13. UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS
  14. AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:The Family, The School, Peer Groups, The Mass Media
  15. SOCIALIZATION AND THE LIFE COURSE:CHILDHOOD, ADOLESCENCE
  16. SOCIAL CONTROL AND DEVIANCE:Crime, Deviants, Stigma, Labeling
  17. THE SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF DEVIANCE:Cultural relativity of deviance
  18. EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME:Sociological explanations
  19. EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME -- CONTINUED:White-Collar Crime, Conflict Theory
  20. SOCIAL DISTRIBUTION OF CRIME: EXPLANATIONS, Gender and Crime
  21. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: INTRODUCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE
  22. THEORIES OF CLASS AND STRATIFICATION – I:Critical evaluation
  23. THEORIES OF SOCIAL CLASS AND STRATIFICATION – II
  24. THEORIES OF CLASS AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION – III
  25. SOCIAL CLASS AS SUBCULTURE
  26. SOCIAL MOBILITY:Structural factors, Individual factors, Costs
  27. THE FAMILY: GLOBAL VARIETY, Marriage Patterns, Patterns of Descent
  28. FUNCTIONS OF FAMILY:Reproduction, Social placement
  29. FAMILY AND MARRIAGE IN TRANSITION:Family is losing functions
  30. GENDER: A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION, Gender socialization
  31. GENDER SOCIALIZATION:Role of family, Gender Stratification
  32. EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER INEQUALITY:Conflict Explanations, Feminism
  33. FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOLING:Cultural Innovation, School Tracking
  34. ISSUES IN EDUCATION:Low Enrollment, High Dropout, Gender Disparity
  35. POPULATION STUDY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE:Crude Birth Rate
  36. THEORY OF POPULATION GROWTH:Theory of Demographic Transition
  37. POPULATION PROFILE OF PAKISTAN:World Population Growth
  38. POPULATION PROFILE OF PAKISTAN (Continued):Age Distribution, Sex Composition
  39. IMPLICAIONS OF POPULATION GOWTH:Additional GDP needed per year
  40. POPULATION POLICY:Goals of Population Policy, Objectives, Strategies
  41. ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY:Global Dimension, Historical Dimension
  42. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:Preserving Clean Water, Clearing the Air
  43. SOCIAL CHANGE:Social change is controversial.
  44. CAUSES OF SOCIAL CHANGE:Culture and Change, Conflict and Change, Modernization
  45. MODERNITY AND POST MODERNITY:Cultural Patterns, Post-modernity