Principal languages:
Urdu 8%, English (both official); Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, Burushaski, and others 8%
Ethnicity/race:
Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch, Muhajir (immigrants from India and their descendants)
Religions:
Islam 97% (Sunni 77%, Shiite 20%); Christian, Hindu, and other 3%
National Holiday:
Republic Day, March 23
Literacy rate:
49.9% (2005 est.)
Economic summary GDP/PPP
(2009 est.): $449.3 billion; per capita $2,600.
Real growth rate:
2.7%.
Inflation:
14.2%.
Unemployment:
15.2% plus substantial underemployment.
Arable land:
25%.
Agriculture:
cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; milk, beef, mutton, eggs.
Labor force:
46.84 million; note: extensive export of labor, mostly to the Middle East, and use of child labor; agriculture 42%, industry 20%, services 38% (2004 est.).
Industries:
textiles and apparel, food processing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, paper products, fertilizer, shrimp.
Natural resources:
land, extensive natural gas reserves, limited petroleum, poor quality coal, iron ore, copper, salt, limestone.
Exports:
$17.87 billion (2009 est.): textiles (garments, bed linen, cotton cloth, yarn), rice, leather goods, sports goods, chemicals, manufactures, carpets and rugs.
Imports:Major trading partners:
U.S., UAE, UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Kuwait (2004). $28.31 billion (2009 est.): petroleum, petroleum products, machinery, plastics, transportation equipment, edible oils, paper and paperboard, iron and steel, tea.
Communications: Telephones:
main lines in use: 2.861 million (March 1999); mobile cellular: 158,000 (1998).
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 27, FM 1, shortwave 21 (1998).
Radios:
13.5 million (1997).
Television broadcast stations:
22 (plus seven low-power repeaters) (1997).
Televisions:
3.1 million (1997).
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
30 (2000).
Internet users:
1.2 million (2000).
Transportation: Railways:
total: 8,163 km (2002).
Highways:
total: 254,410 km; paved: 109,396 km (including 339 km of expressways); unpaved: 145,014 km (1999).
Ports and harbors:
Karachi, Port Muhammad bin Qasim.
Airports:
124 (2002).
International disputes:
thousands of Afghan refugees still reside in Pakistan; isolating terrain and close ties among Pashtuns in Pakistan make cross-border activities difficult to control; armed stand-off with India over the status and sovereignty of Kashmir continues—India objects to Pakistan ceding lands to China in 1965 boundary agreement that India believes are part of disputed Kashmir; disputes with India over Indus River water sharing and the terminus of the Rann of Kutch, which prevents maritime boundary delimitation.
