Demographics of Pakistan

had a population of 241,499,431 according to the final results of the 2023 census. This figure includes the country's four provinces e.g. Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the Islamabad Capital Territory. Azad Kashmir 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.
Between 1951 and 2023, Pakistan's population expanded over sevenfold, going from 33.7 million to 241.5 million. The country has a relatively high, although declining, growth rate supported by high birth rates and low death rates. Between 1998 and 2017, the average annual population growth rate stood at +2.40%.
Dramatic social changes have led to urbanization and the emergence of two megacities: Karachi and Lahore. The country's urban population more than tripled between 1981 and 2017, as Pakistan's urbanisation rate rose from 28.2% to 36.4%. Even with this, the nation's urbanisation rate remains one of the lowest in the world, and in 2017, over 130 million Pakistanis lived in rural areas.
Due to a high fertility rate, which was estimated at 3.5 in 2022, Pakistan has one of the world's youngest populations. The 2017 census recorded that 40.3% of the country's population was under the age of 15, while only 3.7% of Pakistanis were aged 65 or more. The median age of the country was 19, while its sex ratio was recorded to be 105 males per 100 females. Pakistan ranked last on the Global Gender Gap Index, with a gender parity score of 56.7%, reflecting one of the lowest levels of gender equality globally.
The demographic history of Pakistan from the ancient Indus Valley civilization to the modern era includes the arrival and settlement of many cultures and ethnic groups in the modern region of Pakistan from Eurasia and the nearby Middle East. Because of this, Pakistan has a multicultural, multilinguistic, and multiethnic society. Pakistan is also thought to have the world's fourth-largest refugee population, estimated at 1.4 million in mid-2021 by the UNHCR.

Population

The 2017 census recorded a population of 207,684,626 living in Pakistan's four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory. The census also reported that Azad Kashmir's population stood at 4,045,367 and Gilgit-Baltistan's population was 1,492,924. This meant that the total population of Pakistan in 2017 was 213,222,917.
The statistics in the graphs below were created by the United Nations in July 2022, and are covered in more detail in the following section. This data includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. For years, the country with a population exceeding 230 million has been grappling to achieve economic stability. The people of Pakistan are living in a precarious situation, with an uncertain future in the country.

Estimates from the United Nations

In July 2022, the United Nations published its 2022 World Population Prospects, a bi annually-updated database where key demographic indicators are estimated and projected worldwide down to the country level. They prepared estimates of Pakistan's population for every year from 1950 to 2021, as well as projections for future decades. This data includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Projections are highlighted in light yellow, and future figures are taken from the medium fertility variant.

Year		% Population aged 0 to 14	% Population aged 15 to 64	% Population aged 65 or more
1950	37,696,264	40.5%	54.0%	5.5%
1955		40.3%	55.3%	4.4%
1960	45,954,226	40.6%	55.6%	3.7%
1965	51,841,626	42.3%	54.4%	3.4%
1970	59,290,872	43.7%	53.0%	3.3%
1975	68,126,999	43.9%	52.8%	3.4%
1980	80,624,057	43.0%	53.5%	3.4%
1985	97,121,552	43.0%	53.5%	3.5%
1990	115,414,069	43.7%	52.8%	3.5%
1995	133,117,476	44.4%	52.1%	3.5%
2000	154,369,924	42.9%	53.6%	3.5%
2005	174,372,098	41.1%	55.4%	3.5%
2010	194,454,498	39.2%	57.0%	3.7%
2015	210,969,298	38.4%	57.7%	3.9%
2020	227,196,741	37.3%	58.6%	4.2%
2025	249,948,885	35.3%	60.2%	4.5%
2030	274,029,836	33.2%	61.9%	4.9%
2035	298,432,780	31.7%	63.1%	5.2%
2040	322,595,767	29.5%	64.8%	5.7%
2045	345,818,945	28.1%	65.8%	6.2%
2050	367,808,468	26.6%	66.5%	6.9%

Structure of population

The table below shows Pakistan's population structure by five-year age group and sex using data from the 2023 census. The country's population structure is relatively young, with a median age of 19. With low death rates and a declining birth rate, the country is in the third stage of its Demographic transition. In 2017, Pakistan's sex ratio stood at 105 males per 100 females, which is much more balanced than South Asia as a whole.
The statistics below do not contain Azad Kashmir or Gilgit-Baltistan, which disseminate their census data separately from Pakistan's four provinces and Islamabad.

Age group	Male	Female	Total		Percent
Total	123,824,681	116,613,077	240,458,089	106.12	100.0%
0 – 4	18,744,989	17,726,432	36,471,421	105.1	14.0%
5 – 9	16,566,852	15,705,284	32,272,136	108.8	14.5%
10 – 14	14,971,914	13,817,137	28,790,182	111.8	11.8%
15 – 19	12,581,753	11,569,893	24,154,118	108.0	10.3%
20 – 24	10,323,755	10,141,864	20,468,713	100.0	8.9%
25 – 29	8,946,770	9,016,962	17,967,161	98.8	7.9%
30 – 34	7,730,953	8,026,004	15,759,670	96.4	6.8%
35 – 39	7,313,967	7,047,727	14,364,278	102.2	5.8%
40 – 44	6,471,820	6,063,242	12,536,758	101.5	4.6%
45 – 49	5,095,175	4,624,839	9,721,110	104.9	3.8%
50 – 54	4,219,234	3,827,003	8,047,113	110.4	3.3%
55 – 59	3,455,455	2,933,026	6,388,995	113.8	2.4%
60 – 64	2,247,341	2,063,695	4,311,861	108.9	2.1%
65 – 69	1,557,733	1,393,718	2,952,013	111.8	1.4%
70 – 74	1,131,916	1,001,805	2,134,220	113.0	1.0%
75 or more	1,338,251	1,287,621	2,626,523	103.9	1.26%
Age group	Male	Female	Total		Percent
0 – 14	43,533,720	40,182,776	83 716 496	108.3	40.3%
15 – 64	58,778,374	57,478,712	116,257,086	102.3	56.0%
65+	4,027,900	3,683,144	7,711,044	109.4	3.7%

Population distribution

Pakistan's population is distributed unevenly, with over half of the country's people living in the Punjab province. On the other hand, Balochistan, which is geographically Pakistan's largest province, is the least-populated. The population is mainly clustered around the most agriculturally fertile areas, particularly the Indus River and its tributaries. Most of the country's people live in rural areas, but two large and growing megacities exist: the coastal Karachi and Lahore in eastern Punjab. Numerous smaller cities dot the rest of the country.

By province

The table below shows Pakistan's provinces and territories by their historical population. While every one of Pakistan's administrative units currently has a growing population, the pace of growth is uneven throughout the country due to differing levels of fertility, mortality, as well as domestic and international migration. Populations pertaining to the modern borders of provinces are shown.

Province or Territory

Punjab, Pakistan|name=Punjab

Urbanization

The following table shows how Pakistan has urbanised. As is true with population growth, urbanisation is an uneven and nonlinear process. With an urbanisation rate of 54% as of 2023, Sindh is the country's most urbanised province, just after Punjab. This is largely fuelled by the growth of Karachi, which economically dominates the province and attracts migrants from the rest of the province. On the other hand, the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the territory of Gilgit-Baltistan both share very low urbanisation rates.

Province or Territory

Punjab, Pakistan|name=Punjab

Largest cities

As urbanisation has progressed and owing to the country's large population, Pakistan today has many very large urban centers which act as hubs for commerce and culture. The nation has two megacities, Karachi and Lahore. With populations of 18.9 million and 13 million respectively, they are among the world's largest metropolises. The country also has eight more cities with more than 1 million residents each: Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta, and Islamabad. All of them play a significant role in the country, housing nearly 19 million people altogether.
Below a list showing Pakistan's cities with a population over 500,000 as of the 2023 census can be found, which not only shows the current populations of the cities, but also their growth rates and locations. The full list can be found on the main article: List of cities in Pakistan by population.
All city population figures below include adjacent cantonments.

City Name

Province or Territory

2023 Population

Avg. Annual Growth Rate

2017 Population

Avg. Annual Growth Rate

1998 Population

Karachi

SindhIncreaseIncrease

Vital statistics

As Pakistan lacks a national vital statistics system that publicly disseminates data, all of the following information is made from estimates, which are constantly being revised. The United Nations estimated that in February 2021, only 42% of births in Pakistan were officially registered, making it the world's most populous country where more than half of births remained unregistered. The United Nations was unable to estimate how many deaths were officially registered.

Demographic and Health Surveys

Surveys taken by the Pakistani government or intergovernmental organisations are seen as the most reliable method of keeping tabs on birth, death, fertility, and infant mortality rates in a country without a reliable vital registration system. The data recorded in these surveys is used by the United Nations in order to estimate historical and future fertility and mortality figures for Pakistan in the World Population Prospects.

Survey	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Infant mortality rate	Total fertility rate	Total fertility rate	Total fertility rate	Life expectancy	Life expectancy
Survey	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Infant mortality rate	Urban	Rural	Total	Male	Female
DHS 2006–07	30.7	—	78	3.30	4.49	4.08	—	—
2007–08	—	—	69	3.13	4.41	3.95	—	—
PSLM 2011–12	—	—	63	3.26	4.35	3.95	—	—
DHS 2012–13	—	—	74	3.16	4.20	3.84	—	—
PSLM 2013–14	—	—	65	3.24	4.35	3.95	—	—
DHS 2017–18	29	—	62	2.93	3.94	3.56	—	—
PSLM 2018–19	—	—	60	3.01	4.21	3.75	—	—
2019	—	—	—	—	—	—	64.3	66.5
2020	27	6.7	56	3.07	4.11	3.72	64.5	65.5

Regional fertility rates

Many of the surveys above also recorded fertility rate data broken down by each of Pakistan's administrative units, while many more surveys have been taken explicitly focusing on a specific province or territory. The fertility rate data recorded in these surveys is displayed in the table below.

Survey	Punjab	Sindh	KPK	Balochistan	ICT	AJK	G-B	Pakistan
DHS 2006–07	3.9	4.3		4.1	—	—	—	4.08
MICS Punjab 2011	3.6	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
DHS 2012–13	3.8	3.9		4.2	3.0	—	3.8	3.84
MICS Punjab 2014	3.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
MICS Sindh 2014	—	4.0	—	—	—	—	—	—
MICS KPK 2016–17	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
MICS G-B 2016–17	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.6	—
DHS 2017–18	3.4	3.6		4.0	3.0	3.5	4.7	3.56
MICS Punjab 2017–18	3.7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
MICS Sindh 2018–19	—	3.7	—	—	—	—	—	—
MICS KPK 2019	—	—	4.0	—	—	—	—	—
MICS Balochistan 2019-20	—	—	—	4.0	—	—	—	—
MICS AJK 2020–21	—	—	—	—	—	3.4	—	—

The MICS surveys above also provide data on the district level, although they come with a far higher margin of error. This margin of error is lessened for larger districts from where larger sample sizes were utilised. In the chart below, the latest fertility rate data for each Pakistani district with a population of over 2 million as of the 2017 census can be found. Although the table is originally ranked by district population size, clicking the headers will allow the reader to sort the table.

District

Province

Total fertility rate

Year of survey

2017 Population

Lahore

Punjab, Pakistan|name=Punjab

Estimates from the United Nations

In July 2022, the United Nations published its 2022 World Population Prospects, a biennially-updated database where key demographic indicators are estimated and projected worldwide down to the country level. They prepared the following estimates of demographic indicators in Pakistan for every year from 1950 to 2021, as well as projections for future decades. This data includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Year	Mid-year population	Live births	Deaths	Annual natural increase	Birth rate\|	Mortality rate\|	Rate of natural increase\|	Crude migration rate	Infant mortality\|	Total fertility rate\|	Life expectancy	Life expectancy
1950	37,696,264	1,647,739	1,173,219	474,520	43.7	31.1	12.6		263.4	6.80	36.2	33.4
1951	38,215,785	1,686,378	1,121,858	564,520	44.1	29.4	14.8	-1.0	252.9	6.80	37.5	34.6
1952	38,816,777	1,727,288	1,089,817	637,471	44.5	28.1	16.4	-0.7	243.3	6.80	38.6	35.8
1953	39,488,228	1,768,524	1,063,098	705,426	44.8	26.9	17.9	-0.6	234.1	6.80	39.8	36.9
1954	40,224,090	1,810,574	1,044,277	766,297	45.0	26.0	19.0	-0.4	225.6	6.80	40.7	37.9
1955	41,023,128	1,853,944	1,022,153	831,791	45.2	24.9	20.3	-0.4	217.4	6.80	41.8	39.0
1956	41,884,995	1,900,510	1,008,574	891,936	45.4	24.1	21.3	-0.3	209.6	6.80	42.7	39.8
1957	42,808,511	1,948,801	993,703	955,098	45.5	23.2	22.3	-0.3	202.2	6.80	43.7	40.7
1958	43,794,993	1,999,584	981,704	1,017,880	45.6	22.4	23.2	-0.2	195.2	6.80	44.6	41.6
1959	44,843,639	2,049,555	970,149	1,079,406	45.7	21.6	24.1	-0.2	188.7	6.80	45.5	42.5
1960	45,954,226	2,102,786	961,020	1,141,766	45.7	20.9	24.8	0	182.6	6.80	46.3	43.4
1961	47,060,915	2,157,005	951,411	1,205,594	45.8	20.2	25.6	-1.5	176.7	6.80	47.2	44.2
1962	48,161,841	2,201,790	939,942	1,261,848	45.6	19.5	26.2	-2.8	171.2	6.80	48.0	45.0
1963	49,325,050	2,247,761	922,383	1,325,378	45.5	18.7	26.8	-2.6	166.0	6.80	48.8	46.3
1964	50,552,592	2,293,167	907,551	1,385,616	45.3	17.9	27.4	-2.5	161.2	6.80	49.7	47.4
1965	51,841,626	2,340,733	897,333	1,443,400	45.1	17.3	27.8	-2.3	157.5	6.80	50.3	48.5
1966	53,199,414	2,388,085	869,523	1,518,562	44.8	16.3	28.5	-2.3	153.2	6.80	51.6	50.0
1967	54,629,793	2,438,389	854,112	1,584,277	44.6	15.6	29.0	-2.1	149.9	6.80	52.6	51.2
1968	56,124,743	2,483,692	840,624	1,643,068	44.2	15.0	29.2	-1.8	147.0	6.80	53.5	52.3
1969	57,676,805	2,524,648	831,202	1,693,446	43.7	14.4	29.3	-1.6	144.5	6.80	54.2	53.3
1970	59,290,872	2,584,996	818,806	1,766,190	43.5	13.8	29.8	-1.8	142.1	6.80	55.0	54.6
1971	60,878,781	2,648,206	985,142	1,663,064	43.4	16.2	27.3	-0.5	145.5	6.80	49.0	52.2
1972	62,509,565	2,712,779	838,978	1,873,801	43.3	13.4	29.9	-3.1	137.9	6.81	55.4	55.1
1973	64,285,624	2,785,335	852,459	1,932,876	43.3	13.2	30.0	-1.6	136.0	6.81	55.5	55.5
1974	66,149,169	2,853,960	874,080	1,979,880	43.1	13.2	29.9	-0.9	134.3	6.81	55.4	55.6
1975	68,126,999	2,931,237	882,423	2,048,814	43.0	13.0	30.1	-0.2	132.5	6.81	55.8	56.2
1976	70,230,923	3,015,342	900,018	2,115,324	42.9	12.8	30.1	0.8	131.0	6.81	55.9	56.5
1977	72,451,105	3,116,181	922,294	2,193,887	43.0	12.7	30.3	1.3	129.6	6.80	55.8	56.9
1978	74,789,330	3,223,019	934,553	2,288,466	43.1	12.5	30.6	1.7	128.1	6.78	56.3	57.4
1979	77,407,341	3,337,688	950,235	2,387,453	43.2	12.3	30.9	4.1	126.6	6.76	56.5	58.1
1980	80,624,057	3,487,787	970,044	2,517,743	43.5	12.1	31.4	10.2	125.1	6.73	56.8	58.6
1981	84,270,202	3,700,274	1,001,060	2,699,214	44.2	11.9	32.2	13.0	123.6	6.70	57.1	59.3
1982	87,828,198	3,903,191	1,035,663	2,867,528	44.6	11.8	32.7	9.5	122.1	6.67	57.4	59.8
1983	91,080,372	4,067,866	1,057,064	3,010,802	44.7	11.6	33.1	3.9	120.5	6.64	57.7	60.5
1984	94,003,867	4,188,905	1,075,240	3,113,665	44.5	11.4	33.1	-1.0	118.8	6.62	58.0	61.0
1985	97,121,552	4,291,612	1,100,992	3,190,620	44.2	11.4	32.9	0.3	117.0	6.59	58.5	60.4
1986	100,618,523	4,453,073	1,131,849	3,321,224	44.3	11.3	33.0	3.0	115.2	6.55	58.8	60.3
1987	104,251,093	4,602,418	1,185,062	3,417,356	44.2	11.4	32.8	3.3	113.3	6.52	58.5	59.8
1988	107,967,838	4,749,506	1,208,574	3,540,932	44.0	11.2	32.8	2.9	111.5	6.48	58.5	60.4
1989	111,670,386	4,877,528	1,229,672	3,647,856	43.7	11.0	32.7	1.6	109.6	6.43	58.7	60.7
1990	115,414,069	4,979,805	1,238,482	3,741,323	43.1	10.7	32.4	1.1	107.8	6.36	59.0	61.4
1991	119,203,569	5,070,548	1,256,930	3,813,618	42.5	10.5	32.0	0.8	105.9	6.29	59.4	61.3
1992	122,375,179	5,146,942	1,290,628	3,856,314	41.8	10.5	31.3	-4.7	103.9	6.21	59.6	60.7
1993	125,546,615	5,116,844	1,309,418	3,807,426	40.8	10.4	30.3	-4.4	101.7	6.11	59.6	60.4
1994	129,245,139	5,188,381	1,321,834	3,866,547	40.1	10.2	29.9	-0.4	99.5	6.01	59.7	60.6
1995	133,117,476	5,214,150	1,355,586	3,858,564	39.2	10.2	29.0	1.0	97.2	5.89	59.5	60.4
1996	137,234,810	5,283,367	1,351,457	3,931,910	38.5	9.9	28.7	2.2	94.7	5.77	59.9	61.1
1997	141,330,267	5,323,160	1,363,688	3,959,472	37.7	9.7	28.0	1.8	92.3	5.64	59.9	61.5
1998	145,476,106	5,391,873	1,360,060	4,031,813	37.1	9.4	27.7	1.6	89.9	5.51	60.2	62.1
1999	149,694,462	5,457,820	1,350,165	4,107,655	36.5	9.0	27.5	1.5	87.5	5.39	60.8	62.8
2000	154,369,924	5,503,880	1,349,760	4,154,120	35.8	8.8	27.0	4.2	85.3	5.26	61.2	63.1
2001	159,217,727	5,621,718	1,365,265	4,256,453	35.3	8.6	26.8	4.6	83.3	5.12	61.4	63.6
2002	163,262,807	5,707,878	1,383,913	4,323,965	34.9	8.5	26.4	-1.0	81.5	5.01	61.7	63.7
2003	166,876,680	5,705,869	1,389,323	4,316,546	34.1	8.3	25.8	-3.7	79.8	4.89	61.9	64.0
2004	170,648,620	5,728,041	1,397,637	4,330,404	33.5	8.2	25.3	-2.7	78.4	4.69	61.9	64.4
2005	174,372,098	5,741,665	1,467,794	4,273,871	32.9	8.4	24.5	-2.7	77.9	4.59	61.2	64.0
2006	178,069,984	5,780,328	1,397,071	4,383,257	33.2	7.9	25.3	-3.4	75.7	4.59	62.1	65.7
2007	181,924,521	5,939,254	1,421,100	4,518,154	33.3	7.8	25.4	-3.2	74.5	4.55	61.9	66.1
2008	185,931,955	6,026,112	1,440,035	4,586,077	33.6	7.8	25.8	-2.6	73.1	4.52	61.9	66.5
2009	190,123,222	6,126,953	1,466,094	4,660,859	33.6	7.7	25.9	-2.0	71.8	4.47	62.1	66.5
2010	194,454,498	6,251,649	1,479,575	4,772,074	33.5	7.7	25.8	-1.7	70.5	4.40	62.3	66.9
2011	198,602,738	6,344,791	1,497,860	4,846,931	33.0	7.6	25.5	-3.0	68.8	4.31	62.5	67.1
2012	202,205,861	6,416,601	1,518,663	4,897,938	32.5	7.5	25.0	-6.0	67.1	4.20	62.7	67.2
2013	205,337,562	6,432,644	1,512,911	4,919,733	31.9	7.4	24.5	-8.3	65.5	4.12	63.0	67.6
2014	208,251,628	6,374,716	1,522,217	4,852,499	31.3	7.3	24.0	-9.0	63.8	4.06	63.1	67.7
2015	210,969,298	6,297,466	1,504,820	4,792,646	30.7	7.2	23.5	-9.6	62.1	3.99	63.5	68.2
2016	213,524,840	6,291,208	1,510,500	4,780,708	30.0	7.0	22.9	-10.2	60.4	3.90	63.7	68.3
2017	216,379,655	6,289,965	1,496,276	4,793,689	29.7	6.9	22.8	-8.7	58.8	3.90	64.0	68.8
2018	219,731,479	6,302,081	1,508,129	4,793,952	29.3	6.9	22.5	-6.3	57.1	3.86	64.2	69.0
2019	223,293,280	6,330,933	1,514,600	4,816,333	29.0	6.8	22.2	-5.3	55.5	3.81	64.6	69.1
2020	227,196,741	6,362,705	1,606,293	4,756,412	28.6	7.3	21.3	-3.4	53.9	3.77	63.9	68.8
2021	231,402,117	6,374,741	1,660,400	4,714,341	28.4	7.2	21.2	-1.9	52.3	3.72	63.8	68.6
2022					28.1	6.5	21.6			3.66
2023					27.8	6.5	21.3			3.61
2024					27.4	6.4	21.0			3.55
2025					27.1	6.4	20.6			3.50

Human development

Human Development Index

Pakistan's Human Development Index value for 2018 is in the medium human development category with a score of 0.560 compared to 0.614 for Bangladesh and 0.647 for India. From 1990 to 2018, Pakistan's HDI increased 38.6% from 0.404 to 0.560.
2018 Information on Pakistani provinces/regions, compared to other countries, estimated at three decimal places is provided below:

Literacy

Definition: A person who can read a newspaper and write a simple letter in any language with understanding and can make simple calculation is treated as literate. Literacy rates for the population over 10 years old as of 2023 are below.

Total population
Urban
Rural

Educational institutions by kind

Primary schools: 156,592
Middle schools: 46,218
High schools: 23,964
College of Arts and Sciences: 3,213
Degree colleges: 1,202
Technical and vocational institutions: 3,125
Universities: 197
Nationality, ethnicity, and language

Ethnic groups

The major ethnolinguistic groups of Pakistan include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis,Muhajirs, Balochs, Hindkowans/Hazarewals, Meos, and Kohistani people|Kohistanis] with significant numbers of Shina, Baltis, Kashmiris, Paharis, Chitralis, Hazaras, Burusho and other various minorities.
Pakistan's census does not include the estimated 2.36 million Afghan citizens, who have been ordered to leave Pakistan or face deportation. Majority of them were born in Pakistan within the last four decades and are ethnically Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks and others.

Foreign-born population in Pakistan

After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, millions of Muslims from India migrated to Pakistan and they are the largest group of foreign-born residents. This group is dwindling because of its age. The second-largest group of foreign-born residents consists of Afghans who have been ordered to leave Pakistan or face deportation. There are also smaller groups of Muslim immigrants from countries such as Burma, Bangladesh, Iraq, Somalia, Iran, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, among others.

Languages

is a multilingual country with dozens of regional languages spoken as first languages by various ethnolinguistic groups. The majority Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.
Urdu is the national language and the lingua franca of Pakistan, and while sharing official status with English, it is the preferred and dominant language used for communication between different ethnic groups. Despite Urdu being the country's lingua franca, estimates on how many languages are spoken in the country range from 75 to 85, and in 2023, the country's three largest languages were Punjabi, Pashto, and Sindhi. Languages with more than a million speakers each include Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Urdu, Balochi, Hindko, Brahui, Mewati and Kohistani.
Ethnologue lists 74 languages in Pakistan. Of these, 66 are indigenous and 8 are non-indigenous. In terms of their vitality, 7 are classified as 'institutional', 17 are 'developing', 37 are 'vigorous', 10 are 'in trouble', and 3 are 'dying'.

Religion

According to the World Factbook, Library of Congress, Oxford University, over 96% of the population of Pakistan is Muslim and the remaining 4% is Hindu, Christian, and others. Majority of the Muslims practice Sunni with a significant minority of Shi'as.
Nearly all Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school, although there are some Hanbalis and Ahl-e-Hadees. The majority of Shia Muslims belong to the Ithnā'Ashariyyah branch, while a smaller number practice Ismailism. There are small non-Muslim religious groups, including Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Baháʼís and Zoroastrians,

Recent changes and detailed demographic data

released religious data of Pakistan Census 2017 on 19 May 2021. 96.47% are Muslims, followed by 2.174% Hindus, 1.27% Christians, 0.09% Ahmadis and 0.02% others.
The 2017 census showed marginal increase in the share of Hindus.The census also recorded Pakistan's first Hindu-majority district, called Umerkot District.
On the other hand, Christianity in Pakistan, while increasing in raw numbers, has fallen significantly in percentage terms since the last census. Christians are concentrated in the most developed parts of Pakistan, Lahore District, Islamabad Capital Territory, and Northern Punjab.
The Ahmadiyya movement shrunk in size between 1998 and 2017, while remaining concentrated in Lalian Tehsil, Chiniot District, where approximately 13% of the population is Ahmadiyya.

Pakistanis around the world

Saudi Arabia

Demographics of Pakistan

Population

Estimates from the United Nations

Structure of population

Population distribution

By province

Urbanization

Largest cities

Vital statistics

Demographic and Health Surveys

Regional fertility rates

Estimates from the United Nations

Human development

Human Development Index

Literacy

Educational institutions by kind

Nationality, ethnicity, and language

Ethnic groups

Foreign-born population in Pakistan

Languages

Religion

Recent changes and detailed demographic data

Pakistanis around the world