Editing Demographics of Pakistan (section)

==Nationality, ethnicity, and language==

===Ethnic groups===
{{Main|Ethnic groups in Pakistan}}{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Ethnic groups in Pakistan ([[World Factbook]])<ref name="CIAWF22" />
|label1 = [[Punjabis]]
|value1 = 44.7
|color1 = Green
|label2 = [[Pashtuns]]
|value2 = 15.4
|color2 = Red
|label3 = [[Sindhis]]
|value3 = 14.1
|color3 = Black
|label4 = [[Saraikis]]
|value4 = 8.4
|color4 = Maroon
|label5 = [[Muhajir (Urdu-speaking people)|Muhajirs]]
|value5 = 7.6
|color5 = DarkGreen
|label6 = [[Baloch people|Baloch]]
|value6 = 3.6
|color6 = White
|label7 = Others
|value7 = 6.3
|color7 = Grey
}}

The major [[ethnolinguistic group]]s of [[Pakistan]] include [[Punjabis]], [[Pashtuns]], [[Sindhis]], [[Saraiki people|Saraikis]], [[Muhajir (Urdu-speaking people)|Muhajirs]], [[Baloch people|Balochs]], [[Hindkowans]]/[[Hazarewal|Hazarewals]], [[Brahuis]], [[Meo (ethnic group)|Meos]], and [[Indus Kohistani people|Kohistanis]]<ref name="CIAWF22" />{{efn|Ethnolinguistic groups with a population of more than a million each.<ref name="2023Language">{{cite web |title=Population by Mother Tongue, Sex and Rural/Urban, Census–2023 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/national/table_11.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241220005033/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/tables/national/table_11.pdf |archive-date=20 December 2024|website=pbs.gov.pk |publisher=[[Pakistan Bureau Statistics]]}}</ref>}} with significant numbers of [[Shina people|Shina]], [[Balti people|Baltis]], [[Kashmiris]], [[Pahari people (Kashmir)|Paharis]], [[Chitralis]], [[Torwali people|Torwalis]], [[Hazaras]], [[Burusho people|Burusho]], [[Wakhi people|Wakhis]], [[Kalash people|Kalash]], [[Siddi|Siddis]] and other various minorities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Qadeer |first=Mohammad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ll02P7G5XD8C&pg=PA40 |title=Pakistan - Social and Cultural Transformations in a Muslim Nation |date=2006-11-22 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-18617-4 |pages=70 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ali |first1=Shaheen Sardar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60VAsoo-huYC&q=pakistan+ethnic+groups |title=Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities of Pakistan: Constitutional and Legal Perspectives |last2=Rehman |first2=Javaid |date=2013-02-01 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-77868-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Pakistan's census does not include the 1.4&nbsp;million [[Afghan identity card|citizens of Afghanistan]] who are temporarily residing in [[Afghans in Pakistan|Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Registered Afghan Refugees in Pakistan |publisher=UNHCR|date=December 31, 2020|url=https://data2.unhcr.org/en/country/pak|access-date=2021-07-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Onward Movements of Afghan Refugees|date=March–April 2021 |url=https://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/Statistical%20Factsheet%20Onward%20movements%20of%20Afghan%20refugees%20March-April%202021.pdf|publisher=UNHCR|access-date=2021-08-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.unhcr.org/pk/12999-government-to-deliver-first-new-por-smartcards-to-afghan-refugees.html |title=Government delivered first new Proof of Registration smartcards to Afghan refugees |date=May 25, 2021 |access-date=2021-07-30}}</ref> Majority of them were born in Pakistan within the last four decades and are ethnically [[Pashtuns]], [[Tajiks]], [[Uzbeks]] and others.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 2016 |title=Voluntary Repatriation Update |publisher=UNHCR |location=Pakistan |url=http://unhcrpk.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/VolRep_Summary_20161101_v1.pdf |access-date=2017-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220173655/http://unhcrpk.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/VolRep_Summary_20161101_v1.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Foreign-born population in Pakistan===
{{Main|Immigration to Pakistan}}
After the [[Partition of India|independence]] of [[Pakistan]] in 1947, millions of Muslims from India migrated to Pakistan and they are the largest group of foreign-born residents. This group is dwindling because of its age. The second-largest group of foreign-born residents consists of [[refugees]] from Afghanistan who are expected to leave Pakistan sometime before 2030.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |url= https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/3/31/this-is-our-home-d-day-arrives-for-afghans-facing-pakistan-deportation |title=This is our Home. D-Day arrives for Afghans facing Pakistan deportation.|date=31 March 2025 |access-date=2025-04-03}}</ref> There are also smaller groups of Muslim immigrants from countries such as [[Burma]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Iraq]], [[Somalia]], [[Iran]], [[Tajikistan]], and [[Uzbekistan]], among others.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

{|
|
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="margin: 0 0 0 0;"
|-
! Year||Population||Foreign born||Percentage foreign born
|-
| 1960||46,259,000||6,350,296||13.73%
|-
| 1970||59,565,000||5,105,556||8.57%
|-
| 1980||79,297,000||5,012,524||6.32%
|-
| 1990||111,698,000||6,555,782||5.87%
|-
| 2000||142,648,000||4,242,689||2.97%
|-
| 2005||157,935,000||3,254,112||2.06%
|}
| [[File:Percentage Foreign Born - Pakistan.jpg|frameless|350px|none]]
|-
| Source:<ref name="gum – globalization urbanization migration">{{cite web |title=Pakistan |website=gum: globalization urbanization migration |url=http://gstudynet.org/gum/Pakistan.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104014238/http://gstudynet.org/gum/Pakistan.htm |archive-date=4 January 2011}}</ref>
| Mostly those born before 1947
|}

===Languages===
{{Main|Languages of Pakistan}}{{Pie chart|thumb=left|caption=Languages of Pakistan (2023 census)<ref name="2023Language" />|label1=[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]|value1=36.98|color1=Red|label2=[[Pashto]]|value2=18.15|color2=Yellow|label3=[[Sindhi language|Sindhi]]|value3=14.31|color3=Purple|label4=[[Saraiki language|Saraiki]]|value4=12.00|color4=Orange|label5=[[Urdu]]|value5=9.25|color5=Green|label6=[[Balochi language|Balochi]]|value6=3.38|color6=Blue|label7=[[Hindko]]|value7=2.32|color7=Lime|label8=[[Brahui language|Brahui]]|value8=1.16|color8=Violet|label9=[[Mewati language|Mewati]]|value9=0.46|color9=Black|value10=0.43|label10=[[Kohistani language|Kohistani]]|value11=0.11|value12=0.05|label11=[[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]]|label12=[[Shina language|Shina]]|value13=0.02|label13=[[Balti language|Balti]]|value14=0.003|label14=[[Kalasha language|Kalasha]]|value15=1.38|label15=Others|color10=Brown|color11=Aqua|color12=Pink|color14=White|color15=Grey}}[[Pakistan]] is a [[List of multilingual countries and regions|multilingual country]] with dozens of regional languages spoken as [[first language]]s by various ethnolinguistic groups.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Ashraf |first=Hina |date=2022-03-22 |title=The ambivalent role of Urdu and English in multilingual Pakistan: a Bourdieusian study |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-022-09623-6 |journal=Language Policy |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=25–48 |doi=10.1007/s10993-022-09623-6 |issn=1573-1863 |pmc=8939399 |pmid=35340722}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Ashraf |first1=Muhammad Azeem |last2=Turner |first2=David A. |last3=Laar |first3=Rizwan Ahmed |date=January 2021 |title=Multilingual Language Practices in Education in Pakistan: The Conflict Between Policy and Practice |journal=SAGE Open |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=215824402110041 |doi=10.1177/21582440211004140 |s2cid=232484396 |issn=2158-2440|doi-access=free }}</ref> The majority Pakistan's languages belong to the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]] group of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rengel |first=Marian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJMlW-zDE14C&pg=PA38 |title=Pakistan: A Primary Source Cultural Guide |date=2003-12-15 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc |isbn=978-0-8239-4001-1 |pages=38}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kachru |first1=Braj B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2n4sFGDEMYC&pg=PA34 |title=Language in South Asia |last2=Kachru |first2=Yamuna |last3=Sridhar |first3=S. N. |date=2008-03-27 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-46550-2 |pages=34}}</ref>

[[Urdu]] is the [[national language]] and the [[lingua franca]] of Pakistan, and while sharing official status with [[English language|English]], it is the preferred and dominant language used for communication between different ethnic groups.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Despite Urdu being the country's lingua franca, estimates on how many languages are spoken in the country range from 75 to 85,<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=Simons |editor-first1=Gary F. |editor-last2=Fennig |editor-first2=Charles D. |title=Pakistan – Languages |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/PK/languages |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |year=2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902143126/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/pk/languages |archive-date=2017-09-02 |url-status=deviated |edition=20th}}</ref><ref name="GlottologPK">{{cite web |title=Languages of Pakistan |url=https://glottolog.org/glottolog/language.map.html?country=PK#4/33.01/73.28 |website=Glottolog 4.5 – Languages |publisher=Glottolog |access-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512205543/https://glottolog.org/glottolog/language.map.html?country=PK#4/33.01/73.28 |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2023, the country's three largest [[ethnolinguistic group]]s were the [[Punjabis]] (making up 36.98% of the total population), the [[Pashtuns]] (18.15%), and the [[Sindhis]] (14.31%).<ref name="keyfindings2023" /> Languages with more than a million speakers each include [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Pashto]], [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], [[Saraiki language|Saraiki]], [[Urdu]], [[Balochi language|Balochi]], [[Hindko]], [[Brahui language|Brahui]], [[Mewati language|Mewati]] and [[Indus Kohistani|Kohistani]].<ref name="2017CensusLanguage">{{cite web |date=2021 |title=Table 11 – Population by Mother Tongue, Sex and Rural/Urban |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/census_2017_tables/pakistan/Table11n.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409115251/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/census_2017_tables/pakistan/Table11n.pdf |archive-date=9 April 2022 |access-date=12 May 2022 |website=www.pbs.gov.pk |publisher=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rana |first=Shahbaz |date=2024-07-19 |title=Pakistan 27th in global population growth |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2480881/pakistan-27th-in-global-population-growth |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=The Express Tribune |language=en |quote=One of the questions in the population census was about the mother-tongue. The number of Urdu speaking people have increased to 9.3% by 2023. But Punjabi-origin people have reduced to 37%. There is also a reduction in the Sindh language speaking people from 14.6% to 14.3%. the Pashto speaking people reduced from 18.3% to 18.2% but Balochi-language people increased from 3% to 3.4%. The number of Saraiki-language people was reduced from 12.2% to 12%.}}</ref>

[[Ethnologue]] lists 74 languages in Pakistan. Of these, 66 are indigenous and 8 are non-indigenous. In terms of their vitality, 7 are classified as 'institutional', 17 are 'developing', 37 are 'vigorous', 10 are 'in trouble', and 3 are 'dying'.<ref>{{Cite web |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first1=David M. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last3=Fennig |editor-first3=Charles D. |year=2019 |title=Pakistan: Status |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |edition=22nd |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/pk/status |url-status=deviated |archive-date=17 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417190054/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/PK/status}}</ref>