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119 NATIONAL CENSUS REPORT
Bahauddin, Islamabad, Kohlu, Faisalabad, Panjgur, Hyderabad, Gujrat, Sheikhupura, Karachi
West, Karachi South, Lahore, Sialkot, Korangi, Gujranwala, Karachi East, and Karachi
Central. Many of these districts are urban centers with better access to educational
infrastructure, resources, and awareness campaigns promoting gender equality in education.
It is important to note that 14 districts have reported female literacy rate below 20%. Of these,
10 are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa —Khyber, Orakzai, Torghar , Mohmand, Shangla, North
Waziristan, Bajaur, Lower Kohistan, Upper Kohistan, and Kolai Palas Kohistan. Three districts
belong to Balochistan—Dera Bugti, Sherani, and Washuk— while Sindh has one, Sujawal.
With regard to regional literacy differences, Figure 3 .17 presents the literacy gap
between urban and rural areas across Pakistan. Among the provinces, Punjab shows a relatively
smaller difference, while Sindh and Balochistan exhibit more pronounced disparities. At the
district level, a rural-urban literacy gap exceeding 30 percentage points is observed in Sujawal,
Bannu, Kohlu, Zhob, Hyderabad, Kalat, Shikarpur, Mirpur Khas, North Waziristan, Sibi,
Rahim Yar Khan, Sanghar, and Rajanpur. Districts with gaps ranging from 20 to 30 percentage
points include Dera Ismail Khan, Jacobabad, Tharparkar, Dadu, Loralai, Tank, and several
others. In contrast, districts with the smallest literacy differences, below 10 percentage points—
mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa —include Malakand Protected Area, Chakwal,
Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Swabi, and others. Surprisingly, in a few districts such as Panjgur,
Charsadda, Washuk, and Killa Abdullah, rural literacy rates are reported to be highe r than
urban rates. A similar pattern is seen in the Islamabad Capital Territory. The remaining districts
either show a difference between 10 to 20 percentage points or lack either rural or urban areas
altogether. For instance, some districts of Karachi and Lahore have no rural population, while
several districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Balochistan (Sherani) are entirely rural
with no urban areas.
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Figure 3.16: Gender Disparities in Literacy Attainment
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121 NATIONAL CENSUS REPORT
Figure 3.17: Urban-rural Literacy Differences
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics
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3.10 Pakistan in Global Population Context In 2023, global population growth rates varied significantly, with only around 50 countries , including Pakistan, experiencing growth above 2%, and just 13 countries exceeding a 3% growth rate. These countries are predominantly developing nations in the Middle East and Africa, including Syria, which saw a population growth rate of 4.92%, Oman at 4.59%, the UAE at 3.70%, Niger at 3.31%, Yemen at 3.03%, Mozambique at 2.94%, Saudi Arabia at 2.39%, B ahrain at 2.31%, Qatar at 2.24% and Iraq at 2.15% . Conversely, the majority of European and American countries, along with Australia and several Asian nations, experienced population growth rates below 1% in 2023. This stark contrast highlights a troubling trend: population growth is more pronounced in regions with fewer economic resources, while it is slower in wealthier parts of the world. This observation underscores the challenging living conditions in many developing countries, where rapid population growth can strain already limited resources. The distribution of countries according to their population growth rates in 2023 is illustrated in Figure 3.18.
Figure 3.18: Countries as per their Population Growth rates in 2023
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123 NATIONAL CENSUS REPORT
Figure 3.19 illustrates the distribution of countries according to population density, measured in people per square kilometer, in 2023. As can be observed, there is a significant variation in population density across the globe , with some countries experiencing extreme levels of concentration while others have much sparser populations. Only a round 50 countries have a population density exceeding 300 people per square kilometer. Among these, Monaco leads with a staggering population density of 26,145 people per square kilometer, followed by Macao and Singapore at 22,310 and 8,476, respectively. Other notable countries include Hong Kong at 6,772, Bahrain at 2,005, Maldives at 1,753, Bangladesh at 1,317, Palestine at 899, Taiwan at 658, and Mauritius at 627. Additionally, Lebanon has a density of 564, the Netherlands at 537, South Korea at 523, India at 484, Belgium at 387, Sri Lanka at 366, Japan at 330, Pakistan at 321, and Vietnam at 320. Out of the remaining countries , around 123 countries have a population density of less than 100 people per square kilometer, while 70 countries have a density of less than 50.
Figure 3.19: Countries as per their Population Densities in 2023
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
Sie 7“ Population & Housing Census 2023
“FIRST EVER DIGITAL CENSUS”
— et j oa 4 LS. nee or = 3 ~ >
a
sane Saal h ee 241.4 : fe , URBAN RURAL MILLION a 39% 61% MA 0944 : MALE FEMALE 51.48% 48.51% ee ai pe 65.97% 29.75% rw) AX MOTHER TONGUE it het URDU PUNJABI 9.25% 36.98% AVERAGE ANNUAL AVERAGE ) PUSHTO SINDHI GROWTH RATE HOUSEHOLD SIZE 18.15% can 2.55% 6.30 BALOCHI nae & DISABLED Functional ( 3.1% (NS) Limitation 9.6% POPULATION , Population
POPULATION WITH AGE GROUPS
UNDER 5 05 - 16 15 - 29 15.17% 29.64% 26.03% 1 n BELOW 18 BELOW40 65&ABOVE 79.12% 3.55% LITERACY
61% @
x, =a
68% 53%
OUT OF SCHOOL 5-16 YEAR
25.37 MILLION i-e 35.60%
1/3 OF CHILDREN (5-16)YEAR OUT OF SCHOOL IN PAKISTAN Pakistan Bureau of Statistics
NATIONAL CENSUS REPORT 124
4 Demographic Characteristics
4.1 Population Size, Growth And Distribution
4.1.1 Population Size and Growth
The population of Pakistan according to the Census-2023 has been recorded as 241.50 million
(241,499,431), showing an increase of 33.81 million 16.28% from the previous Census of 2017.
Table 3.1 shows that the population size of Pakistan has grown from 33.74 million in 1951 to
241.50 million in 2023, showing an increase of 207.76 million over the last 73 years. It is
evident from Table 4.1 that Pakistan’s population shows a steep rise in numbers since the year
1981 due to high growth rates experienced in the past with high population momentum.
Table 4.1: Population Size and Intercensal Growth Rates Since 1951
4.1.2 Population Distribution by Administrative Units
The total population is 241,499,431 million, which includes individuals from restricted areas
for whom only headcounts are available. Consequently, detailed demographic characteristics
such as age, mother tongue, religion, disability, migration, literacy, employment and nationality
are available for only 240,458,089 million people.
According to the Census-2023 results, Punjab has the largest share in Pakistan's
population constituting 52.87%. The percentage shares of other provinces and territories of
Pakistan in descending order are: Sindh 23.06%, KP 16.92%, Balochistan 6.17%, and ICT
0.98% (Table 4.2).
Table 4.2: Area, Population Density and Average Household size by Administrative
Units : Census – 2023
Description
1951
1961
1972
1981
1998
2017
2023
Populationٔ(inٔ000’s)
33,740
42,880
65,309
84254
132,352
207,685
241,499
Intercensal Increase
(%)
27.09 52.31 29.01 57.09 56.92 16.28 Cumulative Increase (%)
27.09 93.57 149.72 292.27 515.55 615.76 Intercensal Average Annual Growth Rate (%)
2.45 (1951- 61) 3.69 (1961- 72) 3.06 (1972- 81) 2.69 (1981- 98) 2.40 (1998- 17) 2.55 (2017- 23) Administrativ e Unit Area (Sq. Km) Population 2017 Number Percent Population 2023 Number Percent Population Density Househol d Size Pakistan 796,096 207,684,626 100 241,499,431 100 303.4 6.26 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 101741 35,501,964 17.09 40,856,097 16.92 401.6 6.92 Punjab 205,345 109,989,655 52.96 127,688,922 52.87 621.8 6.39 Sindh 140,914 47,854,510 23.04 55,696,147 23.06 395.2 5.63 Balochsitan 347,190 12,335,129 5.94 14,894,402 6.17 42.9 6.43 ICT 906 2,003,368 0.96 2,363,863 0.98 2609.1 5.75 Demographic Characteristics
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When compared with population figures of Census-2017. The percentage share of
Balochistan’s population share has increased by 0.23 percentage points in Census -2023 and
Sindh's by only 0.02 percentage points, whereas Punjab's share has decreased by 0.09
percentage points. Furthermore, ICT has slight increase by 0.02 percentage points and KPK
(merged FATA) decreased 0.18 percentage points. The reasons for this changed proportion of
population could be either due to rate of natural increase or migration effec ts of people in
different areas which needs further analysis.
4.1.3 Household Size
The average household size of Pakistan is estimated as 6.3 persons in Census-2023 which has
slightly declined from previous estimate of 6.4 persons in Census-2017. The average household
size in rural and urban areas is 6.3 and 6.2 persons in Census 2023, respectively. Among the
administrative units of Pakistan, the highest average household size is recorded in KPK with
an average of 6.9 persons. For other administrative units of Pakistan, Balochistan has an
average household size of 6.4 persons, Punjab has 6.4 persons on average, ICT has 5.5 persons
and Sindh has 5.6 persons on average. Although an overall decline in the average household
size is witnessed in all the administrative units compared to the Census-2017, the change is too
small to have a notable effect on family size per household, reinforcing the fact that the norm
and desire for large household sizes still persists in Pakistan.
4.1.4 Rural-Urban Distribution of Population
According to the Census -2023, the rural population of Pakistan is recorded as 147,614,729
persons which is 61.12% of Pakistan's total population. This percentage has declined from the
previous estimate of 63.56% in Census -2017. Compared to this, the urban population is
recorded as 93,884,702 persons in Census -2023 which is 38.88 % of the country's total
population indicating an increase of only 2.44 percentage points from the previous proportion
of 36.44% in Census -2017. This depicts that all provinces have a predominantly rural
population while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the highest concentration of rural population as
compare to other provinces (Figure 4.1).
Rural
61%
Urban
39%
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Figure 4.1: Rural/Urban Distribution by Administrative Units -Census 2023 Among administrative units, Sindh has the highest proportion of urban population 53.97% whereas KP has the highest proportion of rural population i.e. 84.99%. Punjab and Balochistan are overwhelmingly rural with respective proportion of 59.29% and 69.04% of population residing in rural areas. Although Punjab still has a majority of population living in rural areas, its urban population is growing at a fast pace making the province more urbanized by the day.
The total number of rural localities in Pakistan are 46,697 in Census-2023 as verified by revenue department. Out of these, only 17.86% have populations of 5,000 and above, whereas the remaining have less than 5,000 inhabitants. Among the provinces, Punjab has the highest number of rural localities 52.89%.
Table 4.3 shows the number of rural localities by size of population and their
distribution by administrative units indicating that in terms of inhabitation in rural localities.
Further disaggregation of the rural population by size shows that localities with a population
between 2000-4999 persons are the largest in number with 26.59% - followed by rural localities
with a population between 1000-1999 persons with 19.99%. Rural localities having a
population of 200-499 persons are 10.29%.
Overall Punjab province has the highest concentration of rural population followed by KP, Balochistan and Sindh. Table 4.3: Number of Rural Localities by Population Size and Administrative Units : Census-2023 Population Size Group Pakistan KP Punjab Sindh Balochistan ICT Total 46,697 9,821 24,700 5,690 6,357 129 5,000 and Above 8,340 1,818 4,348 1,756 375 43 2000-4999 12,417 1,952 7,386 2,292 764 23 1000-1999 9,334 1,988 5,319 902 1,111 14 500-999 6,950 1,792 3,348 369 1,416 25 200-499 4,808 1,366 1,883 175 1,376 8 Less than 200 3,821 758 1,657 127 1,265 14 Un-inhabited 1,027 147 759 69 50 2 61.12 84.99 59.29 46.03 69.04 53.09 38.88 15.01 40.71 53.97 30.96 46.91 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 PAKISTAN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA PUNJAB SINDH BALOCHISTAN ISLAMABAD Percent URBAN RURAL