The estimated
population of Pakistan is 172,800,000,
[1] making it the world's sixth most-populous country, behind
Brazil and ahead of
Russia. By the year 2020, the country's population is expected to reach 208 million, owing to a relatively high growth rate.
[43] About 20 % of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
[44]Population projections for Pakistan are relatively difficult because of the differences in the accuracy of each census and the inconsistencies between various surveys related to the fertility rate, but it is likely that the rate of growth peaked in the 1980s and has since declined significantly.
[45] Pakistan also has a high infant mortality rate of 70 per thousand births.
[46]Cities by population (2009 estimation)
[47]RankCityProvincePopulationRankCityProvincePopulationview •
talk •
editKarachi, Sindh
Lahore, Punjab
1
KarachiSindh12,827,927
11
SargodhaPunjab
586,922
2
LahorePunjab6,936,563
12
BahawalpurPunjab
530,438
3
FaisalabadPunjab
2,793,721
13
SialkotPunjab
502,721
4
RawalpindiPunjab
1,933,933
14
SukkurSindh
476,776
5
MultanPunjab
1,566,932
15
LarkanaSindh
435,817
6
HyderabadSindh
1 536 398
16
ShekhupuraPunjab
411,834
7
GujranwalaPunjab
1,526,168
17
JhangPunjab
365,198
8
PeshawarNorth-West Frontier1,390,874
18
MardanNorth-West Frontier
340,898
9
QuettaBalochistan859,973
19
Rahim Yar KhanPunjab
340,810
10
IslamabadIslamabad Capital Territory673,766
20
GujratPunjab
328,512
Languages
Main article:
Languages of PakistanMajor Ethnic Groups in Pakistan
Pakistan is a
multilingual country with more than sixty languages being spoken.
[48] English is the
official language of Pakistan and used in official business, government, and legal contacts,
[13] while
Urdu is the
national language.
As this is a knowledge based Pakistan (Pakistan is a federation of four provinces) page, it is important to know how some of the languages of Pakistan are distributed. Refering to the major ethnic groups in the four provinces of Pakistan,
Punjabi is the provincail language of
Punjab.
Pakhto (
Pashto) is the provincail language of
NWFP.
Sindhi is the provincail language of
Sindh and
Balochi is the provincail language of
Balochistan.
The following are some of the major languages spoken in Pakistan.
[49]Punjabi (44.15%)
Pashto (15.42%)
Sindhi (14.1%)
Seraiki (10.53%)
Urdu (7.57%)
Balochi (3.57%)
Others (4.66%)
Other languages include Aer,
Badeshi,
Bagri,
Balti, Bateri,
Bhaya,
Brahui,
Burushaski, Chilisso,
Dameli,
Dehwari,
Dhatki,
Domaaki,
Farsi (Dari), Gawar-Bati, Ghera, Goaria, Gowro,
Gujarati,
Gujari, Gurgula,
Hazaragi,
Hindko (two varieties), Jadgali, Jandavra, Kabutra,
Kachchi (Kutchi),
Kalami,
Kalasha, Kalkoti, Kamviri,
Kashmiri, Kati,
Khetrani,
Khowar, Indus Kohistani, Koli (three varieties), Lasi, Loarki,
Marwari,
Memoni, Od,
Ormuri,
Pahari-Potwari, Pakistan Sign Language,
Palula (Phalura), Sansi, Savi,
Shina (two varieties),
Torwali, Ushojo, Vaghri,
Wakhi, Waneci, and
Yidgha.
[50] Some of these are endangered languages with a relatively small number of speakers and others have hundreds of thousands of speakers.
Most of the languages belong to the
Indo-Iranian branch of the
Indo-European family. The exceptions are
Burushaski, which is a
language isolate;
Balti, which is
Sino-TIbetan; and Brahui, which is
Dravidian.
Religions
Main article:
Religion in PakistanFaisal Mosque in
Islamabad is the largest in the country.
Cathedral church of Resurrection, Lahore, Pakistan
Pakistan is the second-most populous
Muslim-majority country[51] and also has the second-largest
Shi'a population in the world. About 95% of the Pakistanis are
Muslim, of which nearly 70% are
Sunni and 30% are
Shi'a.
[13] Although the two groups of Muslims usually coexist peacefully, sectarian violence occurs sporadically.
[52]The religious breakup of the country is as follows
[13]:
Islam 173,000,000 (95%) (nearly 70% are
Sunni Muslims and 30% are
Shi'a Muslims).
Hinduism 3,200,000 (1.85%)
Christianity 2,800,000 (1.6%)
Sikhs Around 5,000 (0.001%)
The remaining are
Parsis,
Ahmadis,
Buddhists,
Jews,
Bahá'ís, and
Animists (mainly the
Kalasha of Chitral).
[53]
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