Pakistanis

"Pakistani" redirects here. For a demographical overview, see Demographics of Pakistan. For Pakistani people living outside of Pakistan, see Pakistani diaspora. For other uses, see Pakistani (disambiguation).

Pakistanis

پاكِستانى قوم pākistānī qaum
File:Flag of Pakistan.svg Flag of Pakistan
Total population
252.3 million File:Map of the Pakistani Diaspora in the World.svg
Regions with significant populations
South Asia
Pakistan	241,499,431 (2023 Pakistan Census)
Saudi Arabia	1,814,678 (2022 census)
United Arab Emirates	1,700,000 (2017 estimate)
United Kingdom	1,662,286(2021) England: 1,570,285 – 2.8% (2021) Scotland: 72,871 – 1.3% (2022) Wales: 17,534 – 0.6% (2021) Northern Ireland: 1,596 – 0.08% (2021)
United States	684,438 (2023 American Community Survey estimate)
Canada	303,260 (2021 official Canadian census)
Oman	235,000 (2013 estimate)
Kuwait	150,000 (2009 estimate)
Germany	140,000 (2022)
Italy	130,593 (2017 official estimate)
Qatar	125,000 (2016 official Qatari estimate)
Bahrain	112,000 (2013 estimate)
Spain	100,000 (2017 estimate)
Iraq	50,000-100,000 (2024 estimate)
Australia	89,633 (2021) (2016 official Australian census)
Malaysia	59,281 (2017 official Malaysian estimate)
China	54,000
Norway	46,000 (2025)
Denmark	28,703 (2025)
France	26,600 (2017)
Japan	23,000 (2023)
Hong Kong	24,385 (2021)
Ireland	15,185 (2022 estimate)
Turkey	14,384 (2024)
Languages
Pakistani languages, including: Balochi Balti Brahui Burushaski English Hazaragi Hindko Kashmiri Khowar Kohistani Pashto Punjabi Saraiki Shina Sindhi Urdu Wakhi
Religion
Majority: Islam (96.5%) (85–90% Sunni, 10–15% Shia) Minority: Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya, Baháʼí Faith, Kalasha, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism

Pakistanis (Urdu: پاكِستانى قوم, romanised: Pākistānī Qaum, lit. 'Pakistani Nation') are the citizens and nationals of Pakistan, as well as their descendants in the Pakistani diaspora or the people who trace their ancestry to Pakistan. Constituting the fifth-largest national group in the world, Pakistan has a population of over 241.5 million, forming a multicultural society. Pakistan has the second-largest Muslim population in the world (as of 2023), sitting at 96 per cent; with significant Hindu, Christian, Ahmadi, Sikh, Zoroastrian and other religious minorities. The majority of Pakistanis natively speak languages belonging to the Indo-Iranic family, alongside a minority of Sino-Tibetan, Dravidian and isolate languages.

Located in South Asia, the country is also the source of a significantly large diaspora, most of whom reside in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, with an estimated population of 4.7 million. The second-largest Pakistani diaspora resides throughout both Northwestern Europe and Western Europe, where there are an estimated 2.4 million; over half of this figure resides in the United Kingdom (see British Pakistanis).

Ethnic subgroups

Main article: Ethnic groups in Pakistan

See also: Indo-Iranic peoples

Ethnically, Indo-Aryan peoples comprise the majority of the population in the eastern provinces of Pakistani Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir, while Iranic peoples comprise the majority in the western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In addition to its four provinces, Pakistan also administers two disputed territories known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan; both territories also have an Indo-Aryan majority with the exception of the latter's subregion of Baltistan, which is largely inhabited by Tibetan peoples. Pakistan also hosts an insignificant population of Dravidian peoples, the majority of whom are South Indians who trace their roots to historical princely states such as Hyderabad Deccan and are identified with the multi-ethnic community of Muhajirs (lit. 'migrants'), who arrived in the country after the partition of British India in 1947.

Major ethnolinguistic groups in the country include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, and Baloch people; with significant numbers of Kashmiris, Brahuis, Hindkowans, Paharis, Shina people, Burusho people, Wakhis, Baltis, Chitralis, and other minorities.

Culture

File:Men in shalwar kameez on the road to Kalash, Pakistan.jpg

Men dressed in shalwar kameez in a general store on the road to Kalash, Pakistan

Main article: Culture of Pakistan

The existence of Pakistan as an Islamic state since the 1956 constitution has led to the large-scale injection of Islam into most aspects of Pakistani culture and everyday life, which has accordingly impacted the historical values and traditions of the Muslim-majority population. Marriages and other major events are significantly impacted by regional differences in culture but generally follow Islamic jurisprudence where required. The national dress of Pakistan is the shalwar kameez, a unisex garment widely-worn, and national dress, of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck. The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Pakistan

Urdu, or Lashkari (لشکری), an Indo-Aryan language, is the lingua franca of Pakistan, and while it shares official status with English, it is the preferred and dominant language used for inter-communication between different ethnic groups. It is not believed to be a language affiliated with any ethnicity and its speakers come from various backgrounds. Although Indo-Aryan in classification, its exact origins as a language are disputed by scholars. However, despite serving as the country's lingua franca, most Pakistanis speak their ethnic languages and the lingua franca as second. Numerous regional and provincial languages are spoken as native languages by Pakistan's various ethnolinguistic groups, with the Punjabi language having a national plurality as the first language of approximately 45 per cent of the total population. Languages with more than a million speakers each include Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi, Brahui, and Hindko. The Pakistani dialect of English is also widely spoken throughout the country, albeit mostly in urban centres such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Pakistan

Pakistan officially endorses Islam as a state religion. The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis identify as Muslims, and the country has the second-largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. Other minority religious faiths include Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya, Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, Zoroastrianism, and Kalasha. Pakistan's Hindu and Christian minorities comprise the second- and third-largest religious groups in the country, respectively.

Diaspora

Main article: Overseas Pakistanis

File:Map of the Pakistani Diaspora in the World.svg

Distribution of Pakistani diaspora

  Pakistan

  + 1,000,000

  + 100,000

  + 10,000

  + 1,000

The Pakistani diaspora maintains a significant presence in the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Australia. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Pakistan has the seventh-largest diaspora in the world. According to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development of the Government of Pakistan, approximately 10+ million Pakistanis live abroad, with the vast majority (over 4.7 million) residing in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

See also

• List of Pakistanis
• Islam in Pakistan
• Demographics of Pakistan
• Ethnic groups in Pakistan
• Overseas Pakistanis

Further reading

• Abbasi, Nadia Mushtaq. "The Pakistani diaspora in Europe and its impact on democracy building in Pakistan". International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2010).
• Awan, Shehzadi Zamurrad. "Relevance of Education for Women's Empowerment in Punjab, Pakistan". Journal of International Women's Studies 18.1 (2016): 208+ online
• Bolognani, Marta, and Stephen Lyon, eds. Pakistan and its diaspora: multidisciplinary approaches (Springer, 2011).
• Eglar, Zekiya. A Punjabi Village in Pakistan: Perspectives on Community, Land, and Economy (Oxford UP, 2010).
• Kalra, Virinder S., ed. Pakistani Diasporas: Culture, conflict, and change (Oxford UP, 2009).
• Bano, Sha. "Role of museums in Depicting history of cultural heritage of Pakistan". (2019).
• Marsden, Magnus. "Muslim village intellectuals: the life of the mind in northern Pakistan". Anthropology today 21.1 (2005): 10–15.
• Mughal, M. A. Z. "An anthropological perspective on the mosque in Pakistan". Asian Anthropology 14.2 (2015): 166–181.
• Rauf, Abdur. "Rural women and the family: A study of a Punjabi village in Pakistan". Journal of Comparative Family Studies (1987): 403–415.

Origins of Pakistanis

• Vasil'ev, I. B., P. F. Kuznetsov, and A. P. Semenova. "Potapovo Burial Ground of the Indo-Iranic Tribes on the Volga" (1994).
• Ahsan, Aitzaz. The Indus Saga. Roli Books Private Limited, 2005.
• Mehdi, S. Q., et al. "The origins of Pakistani populations". Genomic Diversity. Springer, Boston, MA, 1999. 83–90.
• Balanovsky, Oleg, et al. "Deep phylogenetic analysis of haplogroup G1 provides estimates of SNP and STR mutation rates on the human Y-chromosome and reveals migrations of Iranic speakers". PLoS One 10.4 (2015): e0122968.
• Allchin, F. R. "Archeological and Language-Historical Evidence for the Movement of Indo-Aryan Speaking Peoples into South Asia". NARTAMONGÆ (1981): 65.
• Ahmed, Mukhtar. Ancient Pakistan-an Archaeological History: Volume III: Harappan Civilization-the Material Culture. Amazon, 2014.