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DEMOGRAPHICS
OF PAKISTAN |
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Pakistan has an estimated population of
165,803,560, as of April 2006.[29]
Pakistan has the world's sixth largest
population, more than Russia, but less
than Brazil; because of Pakistan's high
growth rate, it is expected to surpass
Brazil in population in the year 2020.
Population projections for Pakistan are
relatively difficult because of the
apparent differences in the accuracy of
each census and the inconsistencies
between various surveys related to
fertility rate, but it is likely that
the rate of growth peaked in 1980s.[30]
The population was estimated at
162,400,000[31] on July 1, 2005, with a
fertility rate of 34 per thousand, a
death rate of 10 per thousand and the
rate of natural increase was 2.4%.
Pakistan also had a high infant
mortality rate of 85 per thousand
births.Non-governmental and
international sources report that
Pakistans current population is
estimated to be 170 to 190
million[citation needed].Urdu is the
national language and lingua franca of
Pakistan, but English is the official
language used in the Constitution and
widely used by corporate businesses, the
educated urban elite and most
universities.unjabi is spoken by over 60
million people, but has no official
recognition in the country.
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The large
majority of Pakistanis belong to the
Indo-Aryan ethnic group although there are
a substantial number of Iranic peoples and
smaller numbers of Dravidians. These major
ethnic groups are further broken down into
several smaller ethnic groups - Punjabis
(44.68)% of the population, Pashtuns
(15.42%), Sindhis (14.1%), Seraikis
(10.53%), Muhajirs (7.57%), Balochis
(3.57%) and others (4.66%).
Census
data [33] indicates that 96% of the
population are Muslims of whom nearly 80%
are Sunni Muslims and 19% are Shi'a
Muslims. Pakistan has the second highest
Shia population in the world, after Iran,
and more than India or Iraq. [34] The
remainder comprises of Christians and
Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, Parsis, Ahmadis, and
Animists (mainly the Kalasha of Chitral).
A few Buddhists are included in Pakistani
statistics; however, these live in Indian
administered Ladakh which Pakistan claims
along with the rest of Kashmir.
The
demographics of Pakistan were
significantly influenced in 1947 by the
movement of Muslims to Pakistan, and
Hindus and Sikhs to India. As of 2005,
over three million refugees (approximately
81.5% being ethnic Pashtuns) remain in
Pakistan as a result of the wars in
Afghanistan, according to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
with 83% of the refugees reporting their
intent to permanently settle in
Pakistan.[35]
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