Data • Evidence • Insights
Explore population trends, demographic patterns, maps, indicators, and visual evidence to better understand Pakistan's changing population landscape.
Explore the Evidence
Move from numbers to understanding through curated demographic trends, comparisons, maps and analytical visualizations.
The Knowledge Hub brings together population statistics, demographic trends, maps and analytical visualizations in one place — helping users explore how Pakistan's population is changing across time and geography.
Trends
Change over time
Comparisons
Across geographies
Maps
Spatial patterns
Knowledge Areas
Select a topic to move directly to its data, indicators and visualizations.
Explore global, national and provincial population change across census periods.
Understand age and sex composition through population pyramids and demographic profiles.
Explore population movement and migration patterns across provinces and geographic areas.
Compare literacy, household, infrastructure and other indicators across districts.
Explore geographic patterns through maps, spatial indicators and interactive visualizations.
Examine demographic and development conditions affecting communities across Pakistan.
Population Trends
Begin with the global population story, then explore how Pakistan and its provinces have changed across successive population censuses.
Global Perspective
A long-term view of how quickly the global population moved from one billion people to eight billion.
Global Perspective
Global population growth accelerated sharply during the twentieth century. The world took more than a century to move from one to two billion people, while the most recent billion was added in just over a decade.
1804
Around 1 billion
2022
8 billion milestone
Key Insight
Successive billion-person milestones were reached over much shorter periods as population growth accelerated.
Population Growth
Population in billions
Milestone years for successive billions.
Source: United Nations population estimates
Pakistan Perspective
Explore Pakistan first, followed by a comparative view of population growth across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Census Comparison
Compare population across Pakistan and the provinces for each population census year.
Population in millions
Selected Census Year
2023
Select a census year to compare population levels.
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population & Housing Censuses
National Perspective
Pakistan’s population increased from 33.7 million in 1951 to 249.6 million in 2023.
33.7M
1951 population
249.6M
2023 population
Long-term growth
More than 7 times
the population recorded in 1951
Population Growth
Population in millions
1951
33.7
million
2023
249.6
million
Growth
>7×
since 1951
Provincial Population
Punjab’s population increased from 20.5 million in 1951 to 127.7 million in 2023.
1951
20.5
million
2023
127.7
million
Growth
>6×
since 1951
Provincial Population
Sindh’s population increased from 6.0 million in 1951 to 55.7 million in 2023.
1951
6
million
2023
55.7
million
Growth
>9×
since 1951
Provincial Population
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s population increased from 4.6 million in 1951 to 40.9 million in 2023.
1951
4.6
million
2023
40.9
million
Growth
>8×
since 1951
Provincial Population
Balochistan’s population increased from 1.2 million in 1951 to 14.9 million in 2023.
1951
1.2
million
2023
14.9
million
Growth
>12×
since 1951
Population values are shown for every available population census year.
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population & Housing Censuses
Population Structure
Explore age and sex composition and how the structure of Pakistan's population differs across geographic areas.
Age & Sex Structure
Explore the distribution of males and females across age groups and the overall age structure of the population.
Select geography
106.3M
Male population
101.3M
Female population
Census 2017 Population
207.7M
Pakistan
Population Structure
Male
Female
Population
Under age 15
40.3%
children
Age 15–64
56.0%
working-age population
Age 65+
3.7%
older population
Population shown in five-year age groups.
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population & Housing Census 2017
Migration
Explore migration connections between provinces and other reported places of origin, and understand how population movement links different parts of Pakistan.
Migration Flows
Explore historical migration linkages between provinces and other reported places of origin. Wider connections represent larger recorded migrant populations.
Select census
Census 1998
10.8M
migrant population represented across the historical flow records
Largest recorded flow
Punjab → Punjab
3.3M
Track a migration route
From
To
KP → Sindh
451.5K
Census 1998
Census 2023
The component is ready for the equivalent Census 2023 flow table. Once available, only the data file needs to be populated.
Population Movement
Hover over a connection for details
Hover over a migration connection to see the migrant population and duration of continuous residence.
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population & Housing Census 1998
District Indicators
Explore how population size and demographic patterns vary across districts and provinces of Pakistan.
District Population
Compare district population between Census 1998 and Census 2017. The connecting line shows the scale of change between the two census years.
Make selection
Hover over a district to highlight its census-to-census change.
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population & Housing Census 1998 and 2017
Maps & Spatial Analysis
Explore district-level demographic patterns across Pakistan and compare spatial variation in population density, urbanization, household size, population growth and other Census indicators.
District Spatial Indicators
Explore Census 2017 demographic indicators across districts. Move across the map to view district details on the right, or click a district to keep it selected.
Indicator
Geography
Density
Former FATA is presented within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. J&K is shown without indicator data.
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population & Housing Census 2017
Social & Development Indicators
Communities & Development
Examine household conditions, infrastructure and other social and development characteristics across Pakistan.
Education
Female Literacy by District
Compare female literacy across districts between Census 1998 and Census 2017. Hover over a district for additional educational attainment detail.
Province
Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population & Housing Census 1998 and 2017