Languages of Pakistan - Statistics

Statistics

Rank Language 1998 census 1982 census 1961 census 1951 census
1 Punjabi 44.15% 48.17% 66.39% 67.08%
2 Pashto 15.42% 13.15% 8.47% 8.16%
3 Sindhi 14.1% 11.7% 12.59% 12.85%
4 Saraiki* 10.53% 9.54% -- --
5 Urdu 7.57% 7.60% 7.57% 7.05%
6 Balochi 3.57% 3.02% 2.49% 3.04%
  • Saraiki was included with Punjabi in 1951 and 1961 census

Following are the major languages spoken in Pakistan. The percentage of Pakistanis who are native speakers of that language is also given.

Numbers of speakers of larger languages
Language 2008 estimate 1998 census Areas of Predominance
1 Punjabi 76,367,360 44.17% 58,433,431 44.15% Punjab
2 Pashto 26,692,890 15.44% 20,408,621 15.42% Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
3 Sindhi 24,410,910 14.12% 18,661,571 14.10% Sindh
4 Saraiki 18,019,610 10.42% 13,936,594 10.53% Southern Punjab
5 Urdu 13,120,540 7.59% 10,019,576 7.57% Karachi
6 Balochi 6,204,540 3.59% 4,724,871 3.57% Balochistan

Read more about this topic:  Languages Of Pakistan

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