In 2017, the Hindu population in Pakistan was 3.5 million, which increased to 3.8 million by 2023. With this figure, Hindus are the largest minority group in the Islamic nation.
This information comes from official census data released last year. According to a report by 'Dawn' newspaper, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released the results of the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 on Thursday.
In 2023, Pakistan's total population was 240,458,089. This data shows that the share of Muslims in the total population slightly decreased from 96.47 per cent in 2017 to 96.35 per cent in 2023, while the population of all major religious minorities increased over the past six years.
The Hindu population increased from 3.5 million in 2017 to 3.8 million in 2023, but their share of the total population decreased from 1.73 per cent to 1.61 per cent. This indicates that other minority communities have grown at a faster rate.
The Christian population also grew from 2.6 million to 3.3 million, with their share of the total population rising from 1.27 per cent to 1.37 per cent.
The Ahmadi population and their share of the total population both declined. Their community’s population decreased from 191,737 (0.09 per cent of the total population) in 2017 to 162,684 (0.07 per cent) in 2023.
The Sikh community had a population of 15,998, and the Parsi community had 2,348.
The data shows that the country's population grew at a rate of 2.55 percent, increasing from approximately 207.6 million in 2017 to around 241.4 million in 2023. The statistics indicate that at this rate, Pakistan's population is expected to double by 2050.
According to the population breakdown, the total number of men was 124.32 million, while the number of women was recorded at 117.15 million, with a sex ratio of 1.06. The transgender population was reported to be 20,331.
The data reveals that in 2023, 67 per cent of the total population was under 30 years old, and 80 per cent of the population was under 40 years old. People aged 67 or older made up only 3.55 per cent of the total population.
