The Six Questions that Do Not Go Away

Abstract

To any observer of Pakistani society and economy over the last 40 years four questions pose themselves with repeated persistence year after year, survey after survey, census after census, decade after decade. They are: the proportion aged less than 15 years of age, the reported age group 5-9, the masculinity ratio, female illiteracy and innumeracy. There are two other features of the Pakistani data situation that ought to be taken into account during any consideration of these data and their collection. They are: the innocence of vital registration systems, and the ineffectiveness of family planning programmes. The first four questions received little attention through the backstopping offered by international agencies, from the subject-matter units in the Federal Bureau of St.atistics (PBS), and from the analysts in such research institutions as the PIDE. There seems to be no awareness of the critical role of women's literacy and numeracy in the reorganization plans of the Ministry of Women's Development [MWD (1989, 1989a)]. The relevant concerns in WD publications are modest [e.g., WD (1980)]. The last two questions