Pakistan - Statistics & Facts

Demographics

Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world with over 230 million inhabitants, and is expected to overtake Indonesia and move into fourth place in the 2030s. Pakistan’s population is approximately 96 percent Muslim, of which around 90 percent is Sunni, and it has the second-largest Muslim population in the world (also behind Indonesia). Pakistan’s urbanization rate is still fairly low, below 40 percent, however it is home to some of the world’s largest megacities, such as Karachi, with over 20 million inhabitants, or Lahore at 13 million. Pakistan’s fertility rate is estimated to be over 3.5 children per woman, and this is not expected to fall below replacement level until around 2080. Additionally, its birth rate is still significantly higher than its death rate, meaning that natural population growth will continue at a high rate.

However, Pakistan does have high rates of emigration, with an average net loss of roughly 1.5 million in each year since 2012. The largest Pakistani diasporas are found in wealthier Gulf states, where South Asians make up a large share of workforces in booming construction or energy industries, although there are also sizeable populations in the U.S. and UK. Economic hardships mean that a disproportionate share of Pakistan’s highly educated population have left in recent years, and Pakistan’s domestic workforce struggles with high illiteracy rates – however, the Pakistani diaspora sends large amounts of money back to the country, and Pakistan has one of the largest remittance inflows in the world, comprising around eight percent of GDP in 2023. Pakistan’s immigrant population is relatively small compared to its overall population, yet the number is still several million people, primarily from Bangladesh or Afghanistan. The Afghan refugee population in particular includes millions who were born in Pakistan or have lived there for decades, as well as those who fled after the Taliban seized power in 2021. Yet, very few can obtain long-term residency permits and a government crackdown beginning in 2023 has seen several hundred thousand forced to return to Afghanistan, where they may face persecution.

Economy

Pakistan is considered a developing economy, but its economy is smaller and less developed than most of its neighbors. It’s GDP of more than 300 billion U.S. dollars puts it in the largest 25 percent of economies globally, however, Pakistan’s large population means its GDP per capita is in the bottom 25 percent. The economy has gradually transitioned to becoming more services orientated in recent decades, with the share of the workforce employed in services overtaking the agricultural sector for the first time in 2022. Pakistan’s main exports are textile-related, as Pakistan not only has a strong cotton industry but also growing manufacturing industries in the apparel sector. Although Pakistan borders Iran, which has some of the largest fossil fuel reserves in the world, Pakistan itself has limited energy sources to speak of, and is heavily dependent on energy imports from Arabian Gulf states. Yet, Pakistan enjoys positive political and economic relations with Iran, but the same cannot be said of Pakistani-India relations. Due to the history of partition, the conflicts that followed, and decades of political tensions, economic cooperation between South Asia’s two largest countries is minimal, which is likely more to the detriment of Pakistan’s economy given India’s recent economic boom.

Beginning in 2022, Pakistan has experienced an economic crisis due to the impact of international factors such as high inflation or the Russia-Ukraine War, as well as domestic factors including the legacy of excessive borrowing, economic mismanagement, and natural disasters (particularly flooding). These have seen a depreciation of the Pakistani Rupee during period when food and energy prices have risen considerably, and unemployment and national debt have peaked in recent years. Additionally, these issues have been exacerbated by political instability, and much of the public blame the country’s misfortunes at the feet of recent administrations.

Politics in Pakistan

Pakistan is a federal republic with a political structure based on the Westminster system. It has a Prime Minister in the highest position of executive leadership, and a president who acts in a largely ceremonial role. Following independence from Britain, national politics in Pakistan was dominated by disputes between factions from East and West Pakistan, before it transitioned into more of a two-party system after Bangladeshi independence in 1971. The two dominant parties were; the Pakistan People’s Party, the major center-left party that has been led by the Bhutto family since its inception; and the Muslim League, the major center-right party that has been split and reiterated on several occasions. Notably, however, Pakistan’s military establishment has played a domineering role in Pakistani politics since 1947 and has directly ruled the country for around half of its existence through a series of coup d’états and political maneuvering.

In recent decades, Pakistani politics was shaken up by the emergence of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice - PTI), a centrist party founded and led by former Cricket World Cup winning captain Imran Khan. Pakistani politics became more of a multi-party system since the 2000s, and the PTI emerged as the most popular party in the country in the 2018 election, when Khan became Prime Minister. However, Khan was ousted from power in 2022, in a move he believes was orchestrated by the military establishment, who favored Muslim League politicians over the incumbent. The ouster was followed by nationwide protests, an assassination attempt and a wave of trumped-up legal charges against Khan, and a series of obstacles designed to hold back the PTI in the 2024 election. However, PTI candidates (running as independents) won the most seats in the 2024 election, but were unable to prevent the Muslim League from eventually forming a government. Although the political crisis simmered in the months following the election, the Pakistani electorate remains very divided, and the PTI remains a dominant force in Pakistani politics.

Formation of modern Pakistan

Modern Pakistan was founded with the end of British rule in South Asia. Originally called “Pakstan”, its name was derived from the regions of Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and BaluchisTAN. The Pakistan Movement was a branch of the wider Indian independence movement, and its leaders eventually set a goal of establishing an independent Muslim-majority state upon the dissolution of British India. Partition was agreed to by British administrators who feared the creation of one country may lead to civil war due to underlying ethnic tensions between the region’s majority-Hindu and minority-Muslim populations. Partition and independence were successfully achieved in 1947, with the founding of both India and the Dominion of Pakistan, which itself was split into two territories on either side of India; West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).

The process of British withdrawal was relatively fast and disorganized, where its centuries-long administration was mostly dissolved within one month. As the Hindu and Muslim populations were mixed in both territories, Indian and Pakistani independence was accompanied by the largest population transfer in history, with some 15-20 million people migrating to their respective sides of the borders in 1947, including up to 12 million in Punjab alone. There were also other minority groups spread across the region, such as the Sikh population, who overwhelmingly migrated to the Indian side of the border due to historical injustices under Muslim rule. The population transfer was not without bloodshed; rioting and communal violence on both sides of the borders resulted in somewhere between a few hundred thousand and one million deaths, as millions were forcibly removed from their homes. The violence of 1947 remains a contentious point in both India and Pakistan and was compounded in the decades that followed by territorial disputes and several conflicts, fostering hostile relations between the two neighbors for most of recent history.