Policies, Reforms and Laws for Higher HSI The strategy for poverty also focuses on raising employment and achieving higher income and more inclusive growth. As such, there are measures proposed for supporting small farmers and SMEs. Also, laws are proposed against discrimination of female workers in the labor market and for banning child work. The National Security Policy has identified the need for productive engagement of youth by enabling skill development and entrepreneurship. This has been reflected in the allocations in Chart 15.1. It is a formidable problem because, as shown in Box 15.2, there are almost 19 million‘idle’ youth in Pakistan, with 7.9 million males and 10.9 million females. Box 15.2: The Youth Bulge: Blessing or Curse? The youth population of Pakistan has increased by 63% between the last two Population Census as compared to the 57% increase in the total population. There are youth, male and female, aged 15 to 29 years, in the population of 64 million. The positive side is the low dependency ratio in Pakistan and the relatively better education, and the greater energy that these youth bring. However, this could emerge as a serious problem if the large population of youth is not engaged in productive activities. This requires an estimation of the number of‘idle’ youth in the country, which is done below: Number of‘Idle’ youth 2008-09 2020-21 Growth Rate (%) Male 5.6 7.9 2.9 Female 8.4 10.9 2.2 Total 14.0 18.8 2.5 Source: LFS, PBS Given the adverse conditions, the number of‘idle’ youth is likely to have reached 20 million in 2023, over 30% of the total population. The threat to security lies in the inclination of some youth to crime, totalitarianism and violation of civil laws. 15.2 Territorial Security The fall in the index of territorial security is the third largest contributor to the decline in the HSI in Pakistan in recent years. This is attributable to the fall in the level of defense expenditure as a percentage of the GDP. In addition, there is the sustainability issue of even the somewhat reduced level of defense spending because in the ongoing financial year of 2022-23, it is likely to be entirely financed by government borrowing. Therefore, if Pakistan is to convert the primary deficit into a primary surplus, there will have to be substantial containment of federal expenditure, excluding debt servicing. Inevitabley, since defense expenditure is the largest item in this type of expenditure, efforts will have to be made to limit this expenditure. 121