Pakistanis

Having one of the fastest-growing populations in the world, Pakistan's people belong to various ethnic groups, with the overwhelming majority being speakers of the Indo-Iranic languages.[24] Ethnically, Indo-Aryan peoples comprise the majority of the population in the eastern provinces of Pakistani Punjab and Sindh while Iranic peoples comprise the majority in the western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In addition to its four provinces, Pakistan also administers two disputed territories known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan; both territories also have an Indo-Aryan majority with the exception of the latter's subregion of Baltistan, which is largely inhabited by Tibetan peoples. Pakistan also hosts a significant population of Dravidian peoples, the majority of whom are South Indians who trace their roots to historical princely states such as Hyderabad Deccan and are identified with the multi-ethnic community of Muhajirs (lit. 'migrants'), who arrived in the country after the partition of British India in 1947.[25][26]

Major ethnolinguistic groups in the country include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, and Baloch people;[27][28] with significant numbers of Kashmiris, Brahuis, Hindkowans, Paharis, Shina people, Burusho people, Wakhis, Baltis, Chitralis, and other minorities.[29][30]

Men dressed in Shalwar kameez in a general store on the road to Kalash, Pakistan

The existence of Pakistan as an Islamic state since 1956 has led to the large-scale injection of Islam into most aspects of Pakistani culture and everyday life, which has accordingly impacted the historical values and traditions of the Muslim-majority population. Marriages and other major events are significantly impacted by regional differences in culture, but generally follow Islamic jurisprudence where required. The national dress of Pakistan is the shalwar kameez, a unisex garment commonly worn throughout Central Asia and South Asia.[31][32] However, Pakistani clothing varies regionally and traditionally reflects historical ethnolinguistic links,[33] with Indian cultural clothing such as kurtas, dhotis, and saris having more prominence among the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian communities;[34] and Persianate clothing such as chador or burqa, khetpartug, and perahan-o tunban having more prominence among the Iranic communities.[35]

Urdu, an Indo-Aryan language, is the lingua franca of Pakistan, and while it shares official status with English, it is the preferred and dominant language used for inter-communication between different ethnic groups. However, despite serving as the country's national language, Urdu is spoken as a second language by most Pakistanis, with nearly 93 percent of the population speaking a first language other than Urdu. Numerous regional and provincial languages are spoken as native languages by Pakistan's various ethnolinguistic groups, with the Punjabi language having a national plurality as the first language of approximately 45 percent of the total population. Languages with more than a million speakers each include Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi, Brahui, and Hindko. The Pakistani dialect of English is also widely spoken throughout the country, albeit mostly in urban centres such as Islamabad and Karachi.

Pakistan officially endorses Islam as a state religion and utilizes Sharia in governance across the entire country to a large degree. The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis identify as Muslims, and the country has the second-largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia.[36][37] Other minority religious faiths include Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya, Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, Zoroastrianism, and Kalasha. Pakistan's Hindu and Christian minorities comprise the second- and third-largest religious groups in the country, respectively.

Distribution of Pakistani diaspora

  Pakistan

  + 1,000,000

  + 100,000

  + 10,000

  + 1,000

The Pakistani diaspora maintains a significant presence in the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Australia. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Pakistan has the seventh-largest diaspora in the world.[41] According to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development of the Government of Pakistan, approximately 8.8 million Pakistanis live abroad, with the vast majority (over 4.7 million) residing in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.[42]

• List of Pakistanis
• Demographics of Pakistan
  • Ethnic groups in Pakistan
• Overseas Pakistanis

• Abbasi, Nadia Mushtaq. "The Pakistani diaspora in Europe and its impact on democracy building in Pakistan." International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2010).
• Awan, Shehzadi Zamurrad. "Relevance of Education for Women's Empowerment in Punjab, Pakistan." Journal of International Women's Studies 18.1 (2016): 208+ online
• Bolognani, Marta, and Stephen Lyon, eds. Pakistan and its diaspora: multidisciplinary approaches (Springer, 2011).
• Eglar, Zekiya. A Punjabi Village in Pakistan: Perspectives on Community, Land, and Economy (Oxford UP, 2010).
• Kalra, Virinder S., ed. Pakistani Diasporas: Culture, conflict, and change (Oxford UP, 2009).
• Lukacs, John, ed. The people of South Asia: the biological anthropology of India, Pakistan, and Nepal (Springer, 2013).
• Marsden, Magnus. "Muslim village intellectuals: the life of the mind in northern Pakistan." Anthropology today 21.1 (2005): 10-15.
• Mughal, M. A. Z. "An anthropological perspective on the mosque in Pakistan." Asian Anthropology 14.2 (2015): 166-181.
• Rauf, Abdur. "Rural women and the family: A study of a Punjabi village in Pakistan." Journal of Comparative Family Studies (1987): 403-415.