Pakistan's population swelled to 207.774 million, says latest Census

Pakistan's population has swelled to a staggering 207.774 million with an increase of 75.4 million people in the last 19 years, according to provisional summary results of the 6th Population and Housing Census 2017 that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved on Friday.

According to the summary results, the country's predominant majority 63.6 percent (132.189 million people) still lives in rural areas. This ratio was 65.6 percent in 1998 when the last headcount was conducted. Compared with the results of the last census there was a 57 percent increase in the population at an annual rate of 2.4 percent, the Express Tribune reported.

This works to an average annual increase of 2.4 percent in population since the last census held in 1998.

The provisional summary results show an overall increase in population by 57 percent over the year 1998, while the population increased by 146.6 percent since Census-1981.

But the most important aspect to be noted is that there is a decline in the population growth rate at national level and in Punjab and Sindh provinces, while an increase has been observed in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Federally Administrated Tribal Areas.

The CCI -the constitutional body headed by the prime minister with four chief ministers in the chair, approved the provisional summary results Friday. However, the final results will be available next year.

The province wise break-up of the population is:

Women in minority

One of the surprising results was reduction in share of women in the total population. The female population stood at 101.314 million, which was 48.8 percent of the total headcount, according to the 2017 results. The male population increased to 106.449 million or 51.2 percent. Meanwhile, there were only 10,418 transgender persons (0.05 percent).

Punjab:Most populated province, as its population stood at 110.1 million or 52.94 percent of the total population.

Sindh :

Sindh remained second most populated province with 47.886 million people

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's population stood at 30.523 million

Balochistan:

Balochistan's population stood at 12.344 million or 5.94 percent of the total population. In past 19 years, its population grew by 5.8 million or 88 percent - the maximum increase in the population of any federating unit in terms of percentage.

ICT

Islamabad Capital Territory population stood at two million, which was 1.2 million higher than the 1998 census. In terms of percentage, it grew by 149 percent.

FATA

The population of Federally Administrated Tribal Areas stood at 5.1 million. There was a 1.8 million increase in the population of the autonomous region.