2017 Census of Pakistan | ||
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General information | ||
Country | Pakistan | |
Topics | Census topics
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Authority | Pakistan Bureau of Statistics | |
Website | www | |
Results | ||
Total population | 213,222,917 ( 56.5%) | |
Most populous | Punjab (109,989,655) | |
Least populous | Gilgit-Baltistan (1,492,924) |
The 2017 Census of Pakistan was a detailed enumeration of the Pakistani population which began on 15 March 2017 and ended on 25 May 2017. It was the first census taken in the country in the 21st century, nineteen years after the previous one in 1998, and it was carried out by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The census recorded a total population throughout the country of 213,222,917. [note 1] The results showed a massive population increase having occurred between 1998 and 2017 of 77.0 million people, or an increase of +56.5%. [note 2] The results also marked a significantly higher result compared to estimations made of the Pakistani population before the census, which had previously estimated the Pakistani population in 2017 to be between 195 million and 200 million. [4] [5]
Controversies regarding this census, focused around the populations of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi and the province of Sindh, resulted in another census being scheduled early in the year 2023. The results of that census will be used to delimitate constituencies for the 2023 Pakistani general election.
The 2017 Census of Pakistan was conducted by over 110,000 civilian staff along with security provided by over 200,000 personnel from the Pakistan Army. [6] Its budget was 18.5 Billion Pakistani Rupees, of which 6.0 Billion went to the armed forces, 6.5 billion was assigned for transportation and other related expenses, and 6.0 Billion was spent on training and re-enumeration. [7] Many questions were asked of each individual, most importantly: age, sex, marital status, religion, mother tongue, nationality, educational attainment, literacy, and employment status. Data was also collected regarding every single household in the country, such as the tenure, the building material, the year of construction, the source of water, and the source of light. [8]
It also was conducted in 2 phases. The first phase lasted from 15 March 2017 to 13 April 2017 and covered 53 districts of the country. The second phase began on 25 April 2017 and lasted until 24 May 2017 covering the remaining 88 districts. However, the census in the Islamabad Capital Territory and neighbouring districts of Attock and Rawalpindi, although included in the second phase, began on 30 March 2017 and concluded on 23 May 2017. Furthermore, for administrative purposes, the census in the Kech District of Balochistan was spread over both phases. [9] In certain, "snowbound" areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the enumeration took place in June 2017. [7]
While basic provisional results of the 2017 Census of Pakistan were released in late 2017 and early 2018, the final results of the census were publicly released throughout the spring and summer of 2021, [10] [11] [12] and they showed that in 2017, Pakistan had 213.2 Million residents. [note 1] Data for Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan was disseminated separately by the territories' own statistical agencies. [2] [3]
Administrative Unit | Population (1998) | Population (2017) | Percent Growth | Annualized Growth |
---|---|---|---|---|
Khyber Pakthunkhwa | 17,743,645 | 30,508,920 | 71.9% | 2.89% |
FATA [note 3] | 3,176,331 | 4,993,044 | 57.2% | 2.40% |
Punjab | 73,621,290 | 109,989,655 | 49.4% | 2.13% |
Sindh | 30,439,893 | 47,854,510 | 57.2% | 2.41% |
Balochistan | 6,565,855 | 12,335,129 | 87.9% | 3.37% |
ICT | 805,235 | 2,003,368 | 148.8% | 4.90% |
Azad Kashmir | 2,972,501 | 4,045,367 | 36.1% | 1.63% |
Gilgit-Baltistan | 884,000 | 1,492,924 | 68.9% | 2.79% |
Four provinces and ICT | 132,352,279 | 207,684,626 | 56.9% | 2.40% |
Total Pakistan | 136,208,780 | 213,222,917 | 56.5% | 2.38% |
Population | Total | 207,684,626 |
Males | 106,018,220 | |
Females | 101,344,632 | |
Transgender | 21,744 |
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
The population of 10 major cities of the country has increased by 74.4 percent since 1998, when the last census was conducted, according to the data of recently concluded 6th Population and Housing Census 2017.
The total population of the 10 cities surged to 40,956,232 individuals as per the 2017 census from 23,475,067 registered during the 1998 census, the data revealed. [13] [14] [15]
Rank | City | Population (1998 census) | Population (2017 census) | Population (2022 Estimation) | Change of Growth | Province |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Karachi | 9,856,318 | 16,051,521 [16] | 21,980,000 | 62.86% | Sindh |
2 | Lahore | 5,143,495 | 11,126,285 | 14,286,000 | 116.32% | Punjab |
3 | Faisalabad | 2,008,861 | 3,203,846 | 3,400,700 | 59.49% | Punjab |
4 | Rawalpindi | 1,409,768 | 2,098,231 | 2,900,000 | 48.84% | Punjab |
5 | Gujranwala | 1,132,509 | 2,027,001 | 2,588,499 | 78.98% | Punjab |
6 | Peshawar | 982,816 | 1,970,042 | 2,458,275 | 100.45% | Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa |
7 | Multan | 1,197,384 | 1,871,843 | 1,986,000 | 56.33% | Punjab |
8 | Hyderabad | 1,166,894 | 1,732,693 | 1,872,683 | 48.49% | Sindh |
9 | Islamabad | 529,180 | 1,014,825 | 2,250,000 | 91.77% | Islamabad Capital Territory |
10 | Quetta | 565,137 | 1,001,205 | 1,105,000 | 77.16% | Balochistan |
Population Pyramids of each Pakistani province and nationwide as of the 2017 Pakistan Census.
The Sindh Assembly refused to accept the results of the 2017 census, stating that millions of people were shown with double addresses and counted in their home provinces despite living and working in Sindh. [17] In April 2018, Mustafa Kamal, chairman of the Pak Sarzameen Party and former Mayor of Karachi, challenged the results of the 2017 census in the Supreme Court, seeking a third-party audit of the national census. Kamal pleaded that records from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) showed the population of Karachi to be 20.15 million, rather than 16 million as shown in the census. [18]
Shahab Uddin Khan, a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from Bajaur Agency, has stated he believes that a large number of people displaced from the Mamund and Nawagai regions due to security operations have not been counted by the census. He has stated he intends to challenge the census in court. Bismillah Khan, an MNA from Bajaur Agency, has stated he believes the population of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is double of what is reflected in the census. He added that he will take up the issue with the federal government along with other lawmakers. Sajid Hussain Turi, an MNA from Khyber Agency, claimed that more than three million people from FATA are living in other cities in the country due to military operations, and expressed concern that developmental work in the region could be underfunded if the population is underestimated by the census. [19]
Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Former Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, questioned the provisional census results. He issued a statement demanding that data collected by the statistics division should be compared to data from the Pakistan Army. PPP leader Nawab Muhammad Yousuf accused authorities of doctoring the results, alleging that the population of Sindh had been intentionally underestimated by at least 10 million and the population of Punjab had been overestimated by 10 million. He described the results as an attempt to usurp the rights of Sindh. PPP Senator Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah disputed the population of Karachi and Lahore reported in the preliminary results. [20]
Bushra Gohar, leader of Awami National Party (ANP), pointed out in a tweet [21] that the reported population of around 5 million for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas seems contradictory to the fact that there have been nearly 2 million internally displaced persons registered from North Waziristan alone. [20]
Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa rejected allegations that the census results had been manipulated and that the population of Karachi had been intentionally understated. He stated that the populations of Karachi and Lahore were counted as per the record of national identity cards and voter lists and that the census data had already been verified with statistics recorded by the army. [22]
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released religious data of Pakistan Census 2017 on 19 May 2021. [23] 96.47% are Muslims, followed by 2.14% Hindus, 1.27% Christians, 0.09% Ahmadis and 0.02% others.
These are some maps of religious minority groups. The 2017 census showed an increasing share in Hinduism, mainly caused by a higher birth rate among the impoverished Hindus of Sindh province. This census also recorded Pakistan's first Hindu-majority district, called Umerkot District, where Muslims were previously the majority.
On the other hand, Christianity in Pakistan, while increasing in raw numbers, has fallen significantly in percentage terms since the last census. This is due to Pakistani Christians having a significantly lower fertility rate than Pakistani Muslims and Pakistani Hindus as well as them being concentrated in the most developed parts of Pakistan, Lahore District (over 5% Christian), Islamabad Capital Territory (over 4% Christian), and Northern Punjab.
The Ahmadiyya movement shrunk in size (both raw numbers and percentage) between 1998 and 2017, while remaining concentrated in Lalian Tehsil, Chiniot District, where approximately 13% of the population is Ahmadiyya.
Here are some maps of Pakistan's religious minority groups as of the 2017 census by district:
Virtually all people not belonging to one of these minority groups were Sunni or Shia Muslim, with the most religiously homogeneous areas found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released language data of Pakistan Census 2017 on 19 May 2021. [23] 7.08% of the Pakistani people mentioned Urdu as their mother language, 38.78% Punjabi, 14.57% Sindhi, 18.24% Pashto, 3.02% Balochi, 0.17% Kashmiri, 12.19% Saraiki, 2.44% Hindko, 1.24% Brahui and 2.26% others.
Pakistan had a population of 241,495,112 according to the final results of the 2023 Census. This figure includes Pakistan's four provinces e.g. Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan and Islamabad Capital Territory. AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan's census data is yet to be approved by CCI Council of Pakistan. Pakistan is the world's fifth most populous country.
The administrative units of Pakistan comprise four provinces, one federal territory, and two disputed territories: the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan; the Islamabad Capital Territory; and the administrative territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. As part of the Kashmir conflict with neighbouring India, Pakistan has also claimed sovereignty over the Indian-controlled territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh since the First Kashmir War of 1947–1948. It also has a territorial dispute with India over Junagadh, but has never exercised administrative authority over either regions. All of Pakistan's provinces and territories are subdivided into divisions, which are further subdivided into districts, and then tehsils, which are again further subdivided into union councils.
The districts of Pakistan are the third-level administrative divisions of Pakistan, below provinces and divisions, but forming the first-tier of local government. In total, there are 166 districts in Pakistan, including the Capital Territory, and the districts of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. These districts are further divided into tehsils and union councils.
Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Pakistan after Islam. Though Hinduism was one of the dominant faiths in the region a few centuries ago, its adherents accounted for just 2.17% of Pakistan's population according to the 2023 Pakistani census. With the largest population concentration in eastern Sindh province, Umerkot district has the highest percentage of Hindu residents in the country at 54.6%, while Tharparkar district has the most Hindus in absolute numbers at 811,507. Hindus are also found in southern Punjab and in areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The four provinces, a capital territory, and two administrative territories of Pakistan are subdivided into 38 administrative "divisions", which are further subdivided into districts, tehsils, and finally union councils. These divisions were abolished in 2000, but restored in 2008.
Sikhism in Pakistan has an extensive heritage and history, although Sikhs form a small community in Pakistan today. Most Sikhs live in the province of Punjab, a part of the larger Punjab region where the religion originated in the Middle Ages, with some also residing in Peshawar in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, is located in Pakistan's Punjab province. Moreover, the place where Guru Nanak died, the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib is also located in the same province.
The official religion of Pakistan is Islam, as enshrined by Article 2 of the Constitution, and is practised by an overwhelming majority of 96.35% of the country's population. The remaining 3.65% practice Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and other religions.
The Census in Pakistan is a legally decennial census and a descriptive count of Pakistan's population on Census Day, and of their dwellings, conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The 2017 Census in Pakistan marks the first census to take place in Pakistan since 1998. The most recent census was the 2023 Pakistani census.
Law enforcement in Pakistan is one of the three main components of the criminal justice system of Pakistan, alongside the judiciary and the prisons. The country has a mix of federal, provincial and territorial police forces with both general and specialised functions, but the senior ranks of all the provincial forces and most of the federal ones are manned by members of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP). The PSP is one of the most prestigious part of the Central Superior Services, Pakistan's main civil service organisation. Federal law enforcement agencies are generally overseen by the Ministry of Interior of the Government of Pakistan, while provincial police forces are overseen by a department of the government of that province.
Tourism in Pakistan is a growing industry. In 2010, Lonely Planet termed Pakistan "tourism's 'next big thing'". The country is geographically and ethnically diverse, and has a number of historical and cultural heritage sites. Condé Nast Traveller ranked Pakistan The Best Holiday Destination for 2020 and also declared it the third-highest potential adventure destination in the world for 2020. As security in the country improves, tourism increases; in two years, it has increased by more than 300%.
Pakistan's climate varies from a continental type of climate in the north (Gilgit-Baltistan,Kashmir,KPK), a mountainous dry climate in the west (Baluchistan), a wet climate in the East (Punjab) an arid climate in the Thar Desert, to a tropical climate in the southeast (Sindh), characterized by extreme variations in temperature, both seasonally and daily, because it is located on a great landmass barely north of the Tropic of Cancer.
The computerised national identity card (CNIC) is an identity card with a 13-digit number available to all adult citizens of Pakistan and their diaspora counterparts, obtained voluntarily. It includes biometric data such as 10 fingerprints, 2 iris prints, and a facial photo. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), was established in 1998 as an attached department under the Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan. Since March 2000, NADRA has operated as an independent corporate body with the requisite autonomy to collect and maintain data independently.
Jainism in Pakistan has an extensive heritage and history, with several ancient Jain shrines scattered across the country. Baba Dharam Dass was a holy man whose tomb is located near the bank of a creek called near Chawinda Phatic, behind the agricultural main office in Pasrur, near the city of Sialkot in Punjab, Pakistan. Another prominent Jain monk of the region was Vijayanandsuri of Gujranwala, whose samadhi still stands in the city.
Nazimabad District, formerly Karachi Central District, is an administrative district of Karachi Division in Sindh, Pakistan created in 1996. According to 2023 Pakistani census population of Nazimabad District is 3,822,325.
The Counter Terrorism Department (Urdu: سررشتہِ تحقیقاتِ جرائم ، پاکستان; CTD) formerly known as the Crime Investigation Department (CID), are crime scene investigation, interrogation, anti-terrorism, and intelligence bureaus of the provincial police services of Pakistan.
Roads in Pakistan are generally classified as federal, provincial and municipal roads.
The Civil Armed Forces (CAF) are a group of nine paramilitary and gendarmerie organisations, separate and distinct from the regular Pakistan Armed Forces. They are responsible for maintaining internal security, helping law enforcement agencies, border control, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, riot control, and anti-smuggling under the Ministry of Interior. They frequently operate alongside the Pakistani military in response to natural disasters. During times of war they can have their command transferred to the Ministry of Defence, and effectively combined to form a reserve force for the Pakistani military.
The 2023 Census of Pakistan was the detailed enumeration of the Pakistani population and the seventh national census in the country. It was conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. It was also the first ever digital census to be held in Pakistan, including the first in South Asian history.