Headcount exceeds 249.5m: census report

Census commissioner says final figures to be announced in late June

ISLAMABAD:

The population of Pakistan, according to the interim data of the seventh digital census, has surpassed 249.5 million.

Chief Census Commissioner Naeem Zafar shared the country's population figures with the media, emphasising that this report was provisional, with the final numbers set to be announced in the third or fourth week of June.

According to Zafar, the current population of the country stood at 249,566,743. Specifically, the population of Punjab is recorded at 127,474,802, while Sindh's population is 57,931,907. Balochistan's population has reached 21,977,474, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is home to 2,359,422 people.

He added that the data-collection phase of the household census would conclude by Monday night, with no reported complaints about the census system.

He expressed gratitude to the armed forces, who provided security to the census teams during the process.

The chief commissioner assured that the census system, which was used in the exercise was transparent. In response to complaints of under-reporting of the population, the data collection deadline was extended five times, resulting in an additional 1.7 million individuals being included in the headcount.

Regarding reservations regarding the census data, more than 200,000 complaints were received.

Zafar stated that the majority of the complaints, except for a few hundred, had been addressed, and the entire census process had incurred a cost of over Rs34 billion.

Due to the non-recognition of the 2017 census results, a re-census was conducted after five years instead of the usual 10, he highlighted.

Addressing objections raised by political parties, the chief census commissioner remarked that the issue pertained to political concerns and seat distribution, urging that not everything should be viewed through a political lens.

Zafar said that census was also conducted in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the census field operation was not carried out in areas affected by heavy snowfall, he pointed out, adding that the respective governments had been requested to determine the appropriate time for census field operations in 129 blocks of AJK, 80 blocks of G-B, and 16 blocks of Mansehra, which were affected by snow.