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THE PAKISTAN DEVELOPMENT REVIEW 

Hafeez A Pasha. Growth and Inequality in Pakistan, Volume-I. Islamabad, Pakistan: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. 2018. v+218 pages.

The book, Growth and Inequality in Pakistan, is written on a very important theme. In this book, important economic issues of Pakistan economy are touched upon carefully, using recent facts and figures, and far-reaching practical associations are also made a part of this book. The book proceeds in a logical manner and the topics covered in the book capture the deep attention of the reader. The book is divided into seven sections and each section is further divided into chapters related to the issues of concern. As the rising population is an important concern for any economy, therefore, before policy options, the initial discussion in this book focuses on the issues concerning the population of Pakistan. As the population census has been carried out after a gap of nineteen years, it becomes inevitable to start addressing issues related to population, its growth, and international comparisons. Section one presents a good review of the population of Pakistan, which has reached 207.8 million. 1 The discussion is followed by focusing on the distribution of population and its growth. The growth rate for the period 1998-2017 revealed by the census is 2.4 percent, which, according to the author, is worrisome. The size and growth of cities is also a concern, which shows that the fastest growing cities in Pakistan are Lahore and Islamabad. Overall, in Pakistan urbanisation is taking place at a moderate rate but imbalances are observed in the size distribution of the cities.

Fahd Zulfiqar.