LAHORE: Balochistan witnessed the highest and the Punjab the lowest increase in population from 1998 to 2011, with the country's overall population shooting up to an alarming 46.9 percent.



Households witnessed an increase of 50.4 percent during the period, according to preliminary results of housing listing 2011.



As compared to the population of 130,857,717 in 1998, the overall population was recorded at 192,288,944 in 2011 all over Pakistan, excluding three districts of Balochistan (Khuzdar, Kech and Panjgur) Agency of Fata (South Waziristan) as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit-Baltistan.



However, with the inclusion of population of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, the population of the country would reach 197,361,691 in 2011 against 134,714,017 in 1998, showing an increase of 46.5 percent.



The highest increase in population was witnessed in Balochistan, followed by Sindh, Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the federal capital while the Punjab province witnessed the lowest increase in population as compared to the other provinces.



In terms of percentage, the highest 139.3 percent increase in population was witnessed in Balochistan (from 5,501,164 to 13,162,222) followed by Sindh where the population increased by 81.5 percent (from 30,439,893 to 55,245,497).



Similarly, the population of Fata has increased by 62.1 percent (from 2,746,490 to 4,452,913), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 51.6 percent (from 17,743,645 to 26,896,829), federal capital Islamabad by 43 percent (from 805,235 to 1,151,868) while the population of Punjab witnessed the lowest 24.1 percent increase (from 73,621,290 to 91,379,615).



The population of Azad Jammu and Kashmir witnessedan increase of just 1.54 percent from 2,972,501 in 1998 to 3,631,224 in 2001 whereas the population of Gilgit Baltistan increased by 63.1 percent from 883,799 to 1,441,523.



On the other hand, the number of households throughout the country increased

from 18,934,880 in 1998 to 28,478,642 in 2011, showing an increase of 50.4 percent.



The highest increase of 109.2 percent in households was witnessed in Balochistan where the number of households increased from 760,633 to 1,609,995, followed by Sindh where the households increased from 4,997,134 to 9,191,907, showing an increase of 83.5 percent.



The number of households in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa increased by 45.8 percent (from 2,210,455 to 3,223,371), followed by the federal capital, Islamabad, where the number of households increased by 36.9 percent from (128,753 to 176,280).



Similarly, the number of households in the Punjab increased from 10,537,323 to 13,911,812 (32 percent) whereas in Fata the households increased from 291,582 to 365,277 (25.3%).



In the AJK, the number of households increased by 38.1 percent from 406,033 to 560,720 and in Gilgit Baltistan by 49.9 percent from 109,318 to 163,887.



As far as population proportion is concerned, 13.99 percent of the total population of the country has been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2011, 2.32 in Fata, 47.52 in the Punjab, 28.73 percent in Sindh, 6.85 percent in Balochistan and 0.60 percent in Islamabad.



According to the 1998 census, the population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was 13.41 percent of the total population, 2.40 percent in Fata, 55.60 percent in the Punjab, 22.9 percent in Sindh, 4.9 percent in Balochistan and 0.6 percent in Islamabad, the data revealed.



According to data, average household size has decreased from 6.9 in 1998 to 6.8 in 2011.The average of household size decreased from 7.0 to 6.6 in the Punjab, from 6.1 to 6.0 in Sindh.



However, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it increased from 8.0 in 1998 to 8.3, in Fata from 9.4 to 12.2, in Balochistan from 7.1 to 8.2 whereas the average household size increased from 6.3 to 6.5 in capital Islamabad.



