Demographics of Pakistan

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Pakistan. For a general overview of the citizens of Pakistan, see Pakistanis.

Demographics of Pakistan
Population pyramid of Pakistan, as of 2026
Population	247,541,947 (2023 census)
Density	260.8/km2 (675/sq mi) 248.9/km2 (645/sq mi) (including AJK and GB)
Growth rate	1.85% (2021 est.)
Birth rate	22.5 births / 1,000 population (2023 est.)
Death rate	7.2 deaths / 1,000 population (2021 est.)
Life expectancy	69.1 years (2022 est.)
• male	66.8 years (2022 est.)
• female	71.6 years (2022 est.)
Fertility rate	3.50 children born / woman (2025 est.)
Net migration rate	−2.0 migrants / 1,000 population (2021 est.)
Immigrant share	1.7% (2024)
Age structure
0–14 years	37.2% (2020)
15–64 years	58.6% (2020)
65 and over	4.2% (2020)
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Pakistani
Major ethnic	See Ethnic groups in Pakistan
Language
Spoken	See Languages of Pakistan

Pakistan had a population of 247,541,947 according to the final results of the 2023 Pakistani census. The country is characterized by a highly diverse, multi-ethnic, and multilingual society, reflecting its historical position at the crossroads of Central, South, and Western Asia, along ancient trade and invasion routes. Pakistan is the world's fifth–most populous country and has the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Between 1951 and 2023, Pakistan's population expanded over sevenfold, going from 33.7 million to 247.5 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 (from 23.8 million to 75.7 million), 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 (making up nearly 65% of the population) 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 (148th of 148 countries) 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

Main article: Census in Pakistan

Historical Population of Pakistan (four provinces and Islamabad)

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1951	33,740,167	—
1961	42,880,378	+2.43%
1972	65,309,340	+3.90%
1981	84,253,644	+2.87%
1998	132,352,279	+2.69%
2017	207,684,626	+2.40%
2023	241,499,431	+2.55%
Source:

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.

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Population Density per square kilometre of each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census

Population of each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census

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	% 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

Median Age of each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistani Census

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	Sex ratio	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	Sex ratio	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 (which is the reason Punjab has the highest population as it is agriculturally fertile), 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 (such as Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala and the capital Islamabad) 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	1951	1961	1972	1981	1998	2017	2023
Punjab	20,540,762	25,463,974	37,607,423	47,292,441	73,691,290	109,989,655	127,688,922
Sindh	6,047,748	8,367,065	14,155,909	19,028,666	30,439,893	47,854,510	55,696,147
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	5,888,550	7,578,186	10,879,781	13,259,875	20,919,976	35,501,964	40,856,097
Balochistan	1,167,167	1,353,484	2,428,678	4,332,376	6,565,885	12,335,129	14,894,402
ICT	—	117,669	237,549	340,286	805,235	2,003,368	2,363,863
Four Provinces and ICT	33,740,167	42,880,378	65,309,340	84,253,644	132,352,279	207,684,626	241,499,431
Azad Kashmir	886,000	1,065,000	1,573,000	1,983,465	2,972,501	4,045,367	4,333,467
Gilgit-Baltistan	—	—	—	—	884,000	1,492,924	1,709,049
Total Pakistan	—	—	—	—	136,208,780	213,222,917	247,541,947

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	1951	1961	1972	1981	1998	2017	2023
Punjab	17.3%	21.5%	24.4%	27.6%	31.3%	36.9%	40.7%
Sindh	29.2%	37.9%	40.4%	43.3%	48.8%	51.9%	54.0%
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	8.6%	10.3%	11.1%	12.6%	14.3%	16.5%	15.0%
Balochistan	12.4%	16.9%	16.5%	15.6%	23.9%	27.6%	30.1%
ICT	0.0%	0.0%	32.3%	60.1%	65.7%	50.4%	46.9%
Four Provinces and ICT	17.7%	22.5%	25.4%	28.3%	32.5%	36.4%	38.9%
Azad Kashmir	—	—	—	8.1%	12.5%	17.4%
Gilgit-Baltistan	—	—	—	—	16.8%	16.5%

Largest cities

Main article: List of cities in Pakistan by population

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 (as of 2023), 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 (2017–2023)	2017 Population	Avg. Annual Growth Rate (1998-2017)	1998 Population
Karachi	Sindh	18,868,021	4.05%	14,884,402	2.48%	9,339,023
Lahore	Punjab	13,004,135	2.65%	11,119,985	4.06%	5,209,088
Faisalabad	Punjab	3,691,999	2.37%	3,210,158	2.49%	2,008,861
Rawalpindi	Punjab	3,357,612	8.18%	2,097,824	2.11%	1,409,768
Gujranwala	Punjab	2,668,047	3.55%	2,028,421	3.11%	1,132,509
Multan	Punjab	2,215,381	2.85%	1,872,641	2.38%	1,197,384
Hyderabad	Sindh	1,921,275	1.53%	1,733,622	2.10%	1,166,894
Peshawar	KPK	1,905,975	−0.55%	1,969,823	3.72%	982,816
Quetta	Balochistan	1,565,546	7.79%	999,385	3.04%	565,137
Islamabad	ICT	1,108,872	1.59%	1,009,003	3.45%	529,180
Sargodha	Punjab	975,886	6.81%	658,208	1.92%	458,440
Sialkot	Punjab	911,817	5.64%	656,730	2.36%	421,502
Bahawalpur	Punjab	903,795	2.88%	762,774	3.34%	408,395
Jhang