Introduction

According to the preliminary results of the 2017 census the Population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 30.5 million with an inter-censual population growth rate of 2.89 per cent per annum excluding newly merged districts. Population of Newly merged Districts is 5 million with inter-censual population growth rate of 2.41 per cent per annum.  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including newly merged districts constitutes 17.14% of the total population of Pakistan i.e. 207 million. Density of Population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 350/sqkm. Population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is young with around 47.20% under 15 years of age. The large youthful population is a demographic dividend, which needs to be provided skills to become a productive part of the economic activities. This youthful population would soon be entering to their married life and shall contribute to the Population momentum of the province in the decades to come.

            Population Welfare Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is providing family planning (FP) services / reproductive health (RH) services through its service delivery outlets i.e Family Welfare Centers, Mobile Service Units, Reproductive Health Service Centers. Three Regional Training Institutes (RTIs) are providing 24 months basic technical training course as well as refresher courses to the Technical service providers while Population Welfare Training Institute (PWTI) is imparting non technical trainings to enhance the capacity of the service providers. To address the needs of the adolescent population, Adolescent Centers (ASRH) are being enhanced.  Elected local representatives and religious leaders are also involved for advocacy and community mobilization. Information Education Communication (IEC) is the support component of the department.

 Aim of the Department is to promote healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy and adoption of small family norms. The provincial Population Policy 2015, Action plans and different strategies serve both as an instrument and sequel to the visionary approach adopted by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to streamline population factor in its overall development framework.

            The evidence from PDHS 2017-18 clearly shows that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with its high fertility rate of 4.0 and low contraceptive prevalence rate of 31% still lags behind in achieving its cherish goal of attaining Replacement level fertility and sustainable Population Growth Rate. The factors contributing to slow pace of progress have been continuing low literacy especially female literacy, wide gap in knowledge and practice of Family Planning especially in rural areas, Religious misperceptions regarding Family Planning, limited mobility of the Service providers especially in the militancy hit areas and absence of life skills based education in the curriculum. Fluctuating political support and inadequate funding are also the contributing factors.

Population Welfare Department through its policy emphasizes on Multi sectoral approach to make coordinated and sustained efforts to achieve replacement level fertility and sustainable population growth to ensure the health and well-being of the population and sustained development.

POPULATION POLICY GOALS

• Attain replacement level fertility through enhanced voluntary family planning.
• Promote family planning as a Reproductive Health Right, based on informed and voluntary choice.
• Reduce unmet need of contraception and unwanted pregnancies through universal access and improved quality of family planning services.
• Adhere to the requisites for ‘demographic dividend’ for economic growth by making investment in child survival, reproductive health and prioritizing education especially female education.

POPULATION POLICY OBJECTIVES

Medium Term

• Achieve universal access to safe and quality reproductive health/family planning services by 2020.
• Increase Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) from the existing level of 28% to 42% by 2020.
• Raise modern CPR from existing level of 20% (PDHS 2012-13) to 28% by 2020.
• Reduce unmet need for family planning from existing level of 26% (PDHS 2012-13) to 15 % by 2020.

Long Term:

• Raise contraceptive prevalence rate from 28% in 2012-13 to 55 % by 2032.
• Decrease total fertility rate from 3.9 in 2012-13 to 3.3 births per woman by 2020 and attain replacement level fertility (2.1 births per woman) by 2032.
• Annual Population Growth Rate to be reduced up to 1.3% by 2032.

Encourage increased investment for acceleration of female education and empowerment to facilitate attainment of population sector related objectives.