Editing Demographics of Pakistan (section)

===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>