PAKISTAN’S population debate is often reduced to a familiar set of figures: how fast the country is growing, how many schools and jobs will be needed and whether public services can keep pace. These questions matter. But population policy is about more than managing numbers. It is also about ensuring that women and couples can make informed reproductive choices through access to accurate information, respectful counselling and a full range of family planning methods.

Dhok Hassu, a dense urban neighborhood in Rawalpindi, provides a small but useful window into this larger issue. In 2017, the Akhter Hameed Khan Foundation (AHKF) conducted a household survey involving 1500 ever-married women. Just over one-quarter of the women surveyed were currently using a family-planning method. Among those users, nearly two-thirds said the decision was made........

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