Pakistan's population crosses 207 million, official statistics show

ISLAMABAD - The total population of Pakistan is 20,774,520, according to figures by National Bureau of Statistics available for 163,541 census blocks across the country.

Federal Minister for Statistics Kamran Michael on Thursday chaired a session on sixth census conducted last year.

According to the official data:

In Punjab, 110,012,442 people live in 87,006 blocks

In Sindh, 47,886,051 people live in 39,139 blocks

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 30,523,371 live in 21,577 blocks

In Balochistan, 12,344,408 people live in 10,207 blocks

In Islamabad, 2,006,572 people live in 1,514 blocks

In Fata, 5,001,676 people live in 4,098 blocks

During the briefing, Kamran Michael said that all the necessary records related to the census should be provided to the Election Commission. He hoped that the Commission will soon complete work on delimitation on the basis of census records.

Sixth most populous nation

According to the Word Bank, Pakistan is the sixth most populous country following China, India, USA, Indonesia and Brazil.

The country's population was just over 130 million in 1998, the year when the 5th census had been conducted. The compound annual growth rate for the population since 1998 turns out to be 2.4pc, well above the global average. Female population is 101.3 million or 48.76pc.

The share of population of Punjab and Sindh decreased while that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has increased.

The population census results are exclusive of Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The sixth population census in Pakistan was carried out by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) earlier this year after a gap of nearly two decades. The government had deployed nearly 118,000 officials escorted by tens of thousands of troops and police to carry out the 70-day data-gathering drive in March launched on the orders of the Supreme Court.