ISLAMABAD: Pakistan`s crude birth rate is currently estimated at 40.5 per thousand of population, Pakistan Fertility Survey Report issued here today [Oct 25] shows.

But, there is an encouraging sign regarding population planning, because 49 per cent of the 5,000 women under 50 years of age, who were queried, do not want another child... .

This percentage increases with age and the number of living children. Fifty-four per cent of urban respondents do not want future birth, while 47 per cent of the rural women would not like another birth. The ... Survey was carried out by the Population Planning Division and its affiliate organisations, in association with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, and the US Aid. News agencies [Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from New York,] a Newsweek Magazine poll published yesterday [Oct 24], scarcely a week before the Nov. 2 Presidential election, showed Jimmy Carter comfortably ahead of Gerald Ford. ... The poll gives Mr Carter 308 electoral votes to 88 for Mr Ford, with 142 uncertain. For election, a candidate needs 270 electoral votes. There have been contradictory reports as to who is in the lead in the campaign... .