WIC Colloquium 16.10.2019, 11:00

WIC Colloquium - 16.10.2019, 11:00
Nathan Keyfitz Library, Vienna Institute of Demography

Mehtab S. Karim from the Malir University of Science & Technology will give a talk on "Population Growth in South Asia and lts Effects on Human Development lndicators: Lessons Pakistan Can Learn from Bangladesh in Reducing lts Fertility".

South Asia with about 1.8 billion people, is world’s poorest region after Sub-Saharan Africa. Due to a high population growth rate during the second half of the 20th century, the region has suffered from high infant-child mortality, low level of literacy (particularly among females) and endemic poverty. The demographic situation, particularly fertility decline, as was is evidenced in East and South East Asia, did not occur in South Asia till the late 1980. Thus, it became evident that macro level socioeconomic indicators of the South Asia region were far from other regions in which have reached replacement level fertility. However, fertility in South Asian countries, except in Pakistan, has now declined to near replacement level. The example of Bangladesh is most prominent, where due to increase in contraceptive prevalence rate among currently married woman below age 50, from 7 to 62 percent, during 1975-2013, has resulted in a dramatic decline in fertility however, in Pakistan CPR only increased from 5 to 29 percent, with a much slower decline in fertility. Data from identical household sample surveys conducted in Bangladesh and Pakistan under the Demographic & Health Surveys (DHS) program in 2013-14 and 2017-18, is utilized to explain the reasons, such as public policies adopted in the two countries, which could have affected reproductive health situation of women in the two countries. More