Demography
Created in 1947 following the partition of India, Pakistan has a population of 130 million, making it the seventh most populous country in the world. According to the 1998 census, 32.5 per cent of the population lived in urban areas, compared to 28.3 per cent in 1981. There is a higher male to female ratio in Pakistan compared to other countries. Overall population growth rate has fallen from 3.06 to 2.61 percent.
Pakistan is a federation with four provinces - North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), Baluchistan, Sindh and Punjab - and some federally administered regions. Of the four provinces, Punjab is the most populous and contains more than half of the country's population. Baluchistan that has the largest land mass is the most sparsely populated province with around five per cent of the country's population. The federally administered areas constitute around three per cent of the population. Since a census has been overdue for more than seven years, it is not possible to give reliable estimates for urban/city size and growth. Karachi is Pakistan's largest city with a population of around ten million, with Lahore the next largest city with a population of six million. At least eight cities have a population of more than one million.
Urban growth in one million plus cities has been far higher than that for the entire country. Small towns and medium sized towns have been the fastest growing settlements in Pakistan over the last two decades and have dominated the economy, politics and institutions of central, provincial and local government