Pakistan, Oct. 28 -- Recently, during a discussion on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's population policy, I was encouraged to see the conversation moving beyond a familiar question: how fast is Pakistan's population growing? Participants were looking instead at a more consequential question: are we investing in people fast enough to secure the country's future?

For Pakistan, this distinction is of crucial importance. A population of 241.5 million, growing at 2.55 per cent annually, is not simply a demographic statistic. It represents millions of children who need quality education, millions of young people who need productive work, millions of families who need accessible healthcare, and millions of women who need the freedom and means to make infor...