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Negligible increase of 128,673 registered in Chitral’s population

ISLAMABAD: A negligible increase of 128,673 has been registered in Chitral’s population, according to the provisional result of the census carried out this year.

The results of the 2017 census put Chitral’s population at 447,362 against 318,689 in 1998 – an increase of  128,673. The negligible increase might be as a result of large scale migration of people from Chitral to the urban areas as all those not present on the day of the census in their native towns area are not counted in that area.

The statistics division said that it would release the details of the nationwide census 2017 by April 2018. Pakistan’s overall population has surged to 207.77 million, having experienced a 57 per cent increase since the last census in 1998, provisional census data presented to the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

The sixth population census was finally carried out by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) earlier this year after a gap of nearly two decades. It reveals an acceleration in the population growth rate of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), even as growth in Punjab and Sindh has slowed compared to previous results.

Pakistan houses 106.45m males, 101.31m females and 10,418 transgenders, the provisional data reveals. The results show that 30.5m people reside in KP, 5m in Fata, 47.9m in Sindh, 12.3m in Balochistan, 2m in Islamabad, while Punjab — the largest province in terms of population — houses 110 million people.

An increase in the urban-rural ratio has been observed in all administrative units except Islamabad, which nonetheless remains the second most urbanised unit of the country. Over 52pc of Sindh’s residents live in urban areas, which has surpassed the capital territory as the most urbanised territory of Pakistan. Close to 36.4pc of Pakistanis live in urban areas, the provisional results reveal.

Balochistan, the least urbanised of Pakistan’s provinces, has experienced the fastest average annual growth rate since 1998 of 3.37pc. Punjab’s average annual growth rate remained the slowest at 2.13pc, slightly below the national average of 2.4pc.

The provisional results exclude data from Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, which is likely to be included in the final report. The census is likely to have important implications for the upcoming general elections, as constituencies are expected to have to be redrawn according to the newly-compiled results.

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