Islamabad: Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need to devise a plan to harness the potential of the growing population and integrate them as active contributors to the national economy.

PM Shehbaz Sharif was chairing a meeting in Islamabad on Thursday regarding the impact of rising population on development.

The Prime Minister noted that Pakistan's population is growing at an annual rate of 2.55 percent, with youth making up a significant portion of the demography.

Terming the youth as a vital and precious asset of country, he said several measures are being taken for providing opportunities to the youth to play a role in strengthening country's economy. Besides, he stressed the importance of empowering women, who constitute the largest segment of the workforce, by ensuring they have access to more opportunities.

The Prime Minister directed authorities concerned to devise an effective policy in collaboration with provinces to tackle the problems of growing population. To this end, he instructed to constitute a committee to draft a robust national-level policy framework, describing it as the need of the hour.

The meeting discussed that launching an awareness campaign at national level is inevitable for rising population in the context of economic development.