Pakistan, May 17 -- The defining resource of the 21st-century economy is not oil, land or capital, it is people. Yet a profound paradox confronts the world's most advanced economies: as their industrial and technological appetites grow, their workforces are shrinking. China's decades-long One-Child Policy has resulted in an ageing society and a shrinking labour force. Europe faces similar pressures. Meanwhile, younger generations everywhere are increasingly gravitating toward digital and remote work, leaving construction, agriculture, and manufacturing starved of labour.

In this landscape, nations with young, growing populations hold a rare and powerful advantage - what economists call the "demographic dividend." Pakistan, long accustome...