According to current population projections, Pakistan will reach its peak population in 2092 of 404.68 million people. Pakistan’s population is expected to surpass that of Indonesia in 2048 when it will reach 331.29 million.
Between 1998 and 2017, Pakistan’s average population growth rate was 2.40%. For a population of over 220 million, this is a growth of about 5.28 million people per year.
Pakistan has one of the highest birth rates of 22 births per 1,000 people. Very few women use any type of birth control in Pakistan, and the surging population can put too much pressure on water and sanitation systems, result in millions of unemployed people, and overwhelm health and education systems.
Since the year 1947, when the country became a sovereign state, the population of Pakistan has increased significantly, particularly because more and more people felt comfortable moving their families and businesses to the area. Compared to the other countries in the region, the growth rate of Pakistan is about 2.1 percent higher. It is predicted that in about 35 years, if this growth continues, the population of Pakistan will eventually become double of what it was back in 2001. Judging from how the population has grown significantly over just ten years, this “doubled population” figure does not seem to be far off.
The current growth rate in Pakistan is close to 2%, but this is expected to halve to less than 1% by the year 2050 - at which point it is predicted to cross the 300 million threshold. The population is predicted to near 210 million by 2020 and get to 245 million by 2030.
| Pakistan Population (as of 10/15/2024) | 252,391,297 |
| Last UN Estimate (July 1, 2024) | 251,269,000 |
| Births per Day | 18,858 |
| Deaths per Day | 4,434 |
| Migrations per Day | -3,836 |
| Net Change per Day | 10,588 |
| Population Change Since Jan. 1 | 3,049,344 |
Net increase of 1 person every 8 seconds
Population estimates based on interpolation of data from World Population Prospects
| One birth every 5 seconds | |
| One death every 19 seconds | |
| One emigrant every 23 seconds | |
| Net gain of one person every 8 seconds |
City | 2024 Pop. |
|---|---|
| Karachi | 11,624,219 |
| Lahore | 6,310,888 |
| Faisalabad | 2,506,595 |
| Rawalpindi | 1,743,101 |
| Multan | 1,437,230 |
| Hyderabad | 1,386,330 |
| Gujranwala | 1,384,471 |
| Peshawar | 1,218,773 |
| Rahim Yar Khan | 788,915 |
| Quetta | 733,675 |
Last collected in the year 2011, the population, at that point, stood at a reported 176,745,364. This number came from a report that was published by the World Bank in 2012. Back in 2001, the estimated population was around 142.5 million; the country, at that point, became the seventh most populated country in the entire world. Over the next ten years, the estimated population grew by about 34 million people.
Pakistan has an impressive 10 cities with populations exceeding one million, but the two largest by far are Karachi and Lahore with populations of 14,916,456 and 11,126,285 respectively. The third largest is Faisalabad, with a population of 3,204,726. The remaining seven countries over 1 million listed in order of their respective sizes are Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad, Islamabad, and Quetta.
Year | Population | Change | Density (/km²) | Population Rank | Density Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 251,269,000 | 1.71% | 326 | 5 | 39 |
| 2023 | 247,504,000 | 1.75% | 321 | 5 | 42 |
| 2020 | 235,002,000 | 1.82% | 305 | 5 | 42 |
| 2019 | 230,801,000 | 1.71% | 299 | 5 | 44 |
| 2018 | 226,929,000 | 1.64% | 294 | 5 | 44 |
| 2017 | 223,274,000 | 1.42% | 290 | 5 | 44 |
| 2015 | 217,291,000 | 1.75% | 282 | 5 | 46 |
| 2010 | 199,239,000 | 2.57% | 258 | 5 | 51 |
| 2005 | 175,453,000 | 2.53% | 228 | 6 | 54 |
| 2000 | 154,879,000 | 2.85% | 201 | 6 | 55 |
| 1995 | 134,582,000 | 2.99% | 175 | 7 | 59 |
| 1990 | 116,156,000 | 3.41% | 151 | 8 | 61 |
| 1985 | 98,229,300 | 3.6% | 127 | 9 | 68 |
| 1980 | 82,291,000 | 3.45% | 107 | 9 | 75 |
| 1975 | 69,461,200 | 2.92% | 90 | 10 | 84 |
| 1970 | 60,166,700 | 2.88% | 78 | 10 | 91 |
| 1965 | 52,209,000 | 2.7% | 68 | 11 | 92 |
| 1960 | 45,709,300 | 2.65% | 59 | 13 | 97 |
| 1955 | 40,098,100 | 2.27% | 52 | 14 | 98 |
Year | Population | Change | Density (/km²) | Population Rank | Density Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 251,269,000 | 1.71% | 326 | 5 | 39 |
| 2025 | 255,220,000 | 1.66% | 331 | 5 | 39 |
| 2030 | 276,883,000 | 1.64% | 359 | 5 | 36 |
| 2035 | 300,644,000 | 1.66% | 390 | 5 | 33 |
| 2040 | 324,938,000 | 1.57% | 422 | 4 | 31 |
| 2045 | 348,838,000 | 1.43% | 453 | 4 | 30 |
| 2050 | 371,864,000 | 1.29% | 482 | 4 | 29 |
| 2055 | 393,744,000 | 1.15% | 511 | 3 | 29 |
| 2060 | 414,441,000 | 1.03% | 538 | 3 | 26 |
| 2065 | 433,662,000 | 0.91% | 563 | 3 | 24 |
| 2070 | 451,260,000 | 0.8% | 585 | 3 | 20 |
| 2075 | 466,698,000 | 0.68% | 605 | 3 | 20 |
| 2080 | 479,745,000 | 0.55% | 622 | 3 | 20 |
| 2085 | 490,536,000 | 0.45% | 636 | 3 | 20 |
| 2090 | 499,173,000 | 0.35% | 648 | 3 | 20 |
| 2095 | 506,112,000 | 0.28% | 657 | 3 | 20 |
22
Total
21.9
Male
22.1
Female
There are people over age 18 in Pakistan.
Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 2016 |
| 1998 | 18 March 1998 |
The country of Pakistan has a history that dates back to almost 2,500 years B.C. It is considered to be one of the most highly advanced and highly developed civilizations of those ancient times. Finally becoming a sovereign state (and eventually recognized as an official mark on the map of the world) on August 14, 1947, this country is known for having deep roots in the Islamic religion. The country’s capital is Islamabad, and the country features four different provinces: North West Frontier Province, Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab.
There have been very drastic and dramatic social changes in Pakistan. These vital changes have ushered in a new era of urbanization and the creation of a couple of megacities within the country. As of 2003, the country became one of the most urbanized cities in all of South Asia, mainly because city dwellers made up about 36 percent of its entire population at that point. About 50 percent of Pakistani citizens live in a place where at least 5,000 other citizens reside as well.
Most Pakistani people come from the ancestral group known as the Indo-Iranians. The largest ethnic group in Pakistan consists of those of Punjabi ethnicity, while Pashtuns and Sindhis are the second and third largest ethnic groups in the country, respectively. There is a special mixed ethnic group between the Punjabi ethnicity and the Sindhi ethnicity, and this group makes up about 10 percent of the entire Pakistani population.
When we consider the foreigners who live in Pakistan, a majority of them come from Afghanistan. Smaller foreign groups include those from Iraq, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Burma, and Tajikistan. The most popular language in Pakistan is Punjabi, a language in which 48 percent of the population speaks. Second is the language Sindhi, which is spoken by 12 percent of the population; and coming in third is the language Saraiki, spoken by 10 percent of the population. Urdu is the national local language of Pakistan, even though it is only spoken as the first language by 3 percent of the population.
English is widely spoken throughout the government of Pakistan, mainly because it is actually the official language of the government of the country. Many government officials, civil servants, and members of the military speak English in their daily conversations and their meetings.
In the year 1984, the life expectancy of a Pakistani citizen was only at 56.9 years. As of the year 2002, the life expectancy has jumped up to 63 years of age. The improvement was a direct result of improved medical facilities and better educated health professionals available in the country. The downside, unfortunately, is that doctors and nurses are still in short number for the citizens that need them. There is only 1 nurse for every 3,700 people in the country. There are approximately .6 beds per 1,000 individuals residing in Pakistan as well. If the country is looking to improve health among its citizens and continue to grow their life expectancy rate, then the number of available doctors and nurses needs to continue to grow. If these numbers do not improve, then the people of Pakistan will actually see their life expectancy rate dip back down to the numbers of the mid 1990’s (59 years of age).
The life expectancies of males and females are generally the same in Pakistan. As of 2002, men were expected to live around 63.7 years, while women were expected to live 63.4 years. (These numbers are according to the National Institute of Population Studies.)
In addition, the median age is only 23.8 years of age.
The access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation services are also important factors to consider in terms of quality of life. 91.4% of the population has improved access to clean drinking water while 8.6% still have unimproved access. When it comes to sanitation access, only 63.5% of the population has this available, while 36.5% still struggle.
To break this down even more specifically, the population of Pakistan grew, on average, at a rate of 3 percent per year from 1951 until the middle of the 1980’s decade. From the mid 1980’s until the year 2000, the growth of the population slowed down to about 2.6 percent per year; and from 2000 to 2012, to about 2 percent per year. The reason for this slow population increase may be that the country spent a lot of time and effort to slow down the population growth. As a result of these efforts, it is a lot poorer than what is was a long time ago. If it did not make any effort to slow down its population increase, then there would actually be 49.13 million MORE people in the country than the current reports. But on the other end, they would also be a lot richer as a country. In other words, Pakistan, had it not slowed down its population increase, would actually be 52 percent richer than it is right now. Obviously, history cannot be changed, so the efforts have been switched to educating its population instead.