Islamabad: The population of Hindus in Pakistan was 3.5 million in 2017, which has increased to 3.8 million in 2023. With this figure, Hindus are the largest minority group in the Islamic nation. This information has been received from the official data of last year’s census. According to the report of ‘Dawn’ newspaper, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday released the results of the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023. The total population of Pakistan in 2023 was 2,40,458,089. This shows that the share of Muslims in the total population has declined slightly from 96.47 percent in 2017 to 96.35 percent in 2023, while the population of all major religious minorities has increased in the last six years.

What is the share in the total population
The population of Hindus increased from 3.5 million in 2017 to 3.8 million in 2023, but their share in the total population declined from 1.73 to 1.61 percent. This shows that the population of other minority communities has increased at a faster rate. The population of Christians also increased from 2.6 million to 3.3 million. The share of Christians in the total population increased from 1.27 to 1.37 percent. The actual population of Ahmadis as well as their share in the total population saw a decline. The population of their community declined by 29,053 from 1,91,737 (0.09 percent of the total population) in 2017 to 162,684 (0.07 percent of the total population). The population of the Sikh community was 15,998 and that of the Parsi community was 2,348.

What the figures say

The figures show that the country’s population grew at a growth rate of 2.55 percent from about 20.76 crores in 2017 to about 24.14 crores in 2023. The figures show that at this rate, Pakistan’s population is expected to double by 2050. According to the population division, the total number of men was 12.432 crores, while the number of women was recorded at 11.715 crores. The sex ratio was 1.06, while the transgender population was reported to be 20,331. The figures show that in 2023, 67 percent of the total population was below 30 years of age and 80 percent of the population was below 40 years of age. People aged 67 years or above were only 3.55 percent of the total population. In 2017, 66.12 percent of the total population was married, whereas in 2023 this figure was recorded at 64.79.