The population of 10 major cities of the country has increased by 74.4 per cent since 1998, when the last census was conducted, according to the data of recently concluded 6th Population and Housing Census 2017.

The total population of the 10 cities surged to 40,956,232 individuals as per the 2017 census from 23,475,067 registered during the 1998 census, the data revealed.

The figures, based on 6th Census, show that population of Karachi has increased from 9.339 million in 1998 to 14.91 million in the latest Census.

Lahore is the second largest city in terms of population. Its population has increased from 5.143 million in 1998 to 11.126 million in 2017.

Population-wise third largest city of the country is Faisalabad, the count of which has gone up from 2.008 million in 1998 to 3.203 million in 2017.

Population of Rawalpindi City stands at 2.098 million against 1.409 million in the last Census.

The data shows population of Gujranwala at 2.027 million; Peshawar 1.97 million; Multan 1.871 million; Hyderabad 1.732 million; Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation 1.014 million and Quetta 1.001 million.

Meanwhile the Sindh government has rejected the results of the census conducted earlier this year and announced that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would call an all-parties conference (APC) on this issue.

In a policy statement issued on Monday, provincial minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the federal government had conspired to reduce Sindh population in the statistics than what it actually was.

“This move is aimed at reducing Sindh’s share in the National Finance Commission as well as in the national and provincial assembly seats and the job quota in federal government services,” Khuhro, the president of the PPP Sindh chapter, added.

He said the PPP government in Sindh would not accept this conspiracy.

According to the results, Sindh’s share in the total population remains unchanged at 23 per cent.

Sindh is the most urbanised province having 52.02 per cent population in urban areas – a result that could disturb rural-urban quotas of the provincial assembly seats and jobs.

Sindh remains the second most populated province with 47.886 million people, which is 23 per cent of the total population.

Sindh’s population has grown by 57.3 per cent or 17.44 million during the past 19 years, but its overall share in the national population remains stagnant.

Sindh’s annual growth rate remained 2.41 per cent – slightly above the national average. Sindh’s urban population has increased to 52 per cent as compared to 48.9 per cent in 1998.

There are 48 per cent or 22.96 million women in Sindh – which is one per cent up when compared with the 1998 results.