Editing Punjabi language (section)

=== Pakistan ===
Punjabi is the most widely spoken language [[Languages of Pakistan|in Pakistan]], being the native language of 88.9 million people, or approximately 37% of the country's population.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Census history of Punjabi speakers in Pakistan<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/index.html |title=Population Census Organization |access-date=17 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926230905/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/index.html |archive-date=26 September 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| title = CCI defers approval of census results until elections| url = https://www.dawn.com/news/1410447| date = 21 March 2021| website = Dawn| access-date = 10 March 2021| archive-date = 20 June 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200620161758/https://www.dawn.com/news/1410447/cci-defers-approval-of-census-results-until-elections| url-status = live}} The figure of 80.54 million is calculated from the reported 38.78% for the speakers of Punjabi and the 207.685 million total population of Pakistan.</ref>
|-
! Year || Population of Pakistan || Percentage || Punjabi speakers
|-
| 1951 || 33,740,167 || 57.08% || 22,632,905
|-
| 1961 || 42,880,378 || 56.39% || 28,468,282
|-
| 1972 || 65,309,340 || 56.11% || 43,176,004
|-
| 1981 || 84,253,644 || 48.17% || 40,584,980
|-
| 1998 || 132,352,279 || 44.15% || 58,433,431
|-
| 2017 || 207,685,000 || 38.78% || 80,540,000
|-
|2023
|240,458,089
|36.98%
|88,915,544
|}

Beginning with the 1981 and 2017 censuses respectively, speakers of the [[Lahnda|Western Punjabi]]'s [[Saraiki language|Saraiki]] and [[Hindko]] varieties were no longer included in the total numbers for Punjabi, which explains the apparent decrease. [[Pahari-Pothwari|Pothwari]] speakers however are included in the total numbers for Punjabi.<ref name="The Times of India-2008" />