Pakistan to Hold First Census in 19 Years

Pakistan launched its first census in 19 years across 63 districts on March 15.

The census will take place in two stages: the first will occur from March 1 to April 15 and the second will occur from April 15 to May 15. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) will release results representing 87 districts by the end of July 2017.

Dawn estimates that Pakistan has a population of around 200 million. The PBS will carry out the census with around 300,000 staffers and include 55 million forms. The Pakistani army will distribute a second set of forms.

Around 119,000 individuals from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics will aid in carrying out the census. Around 200,000 members of the Pakistani Army will be involved in managing the second set of forms.

This will be Pakistan’s sixth ever census. According to the Pakistani constitution, the government must conduct a census every ten years. However, a census has not taken place since 1998 due to conflict among politicians.

Prior censuses took place in 1951, 1961, 1972, and 1981. The 1972 census was supposed to be conducted in 1971 but was delayed because of political conflict.

The census in 1998, which should have taken place place in 1991, experienced delays because the initial stage of the census showed a 171 percent increase in the population of Sindh province, said The Herald. Policymakers and other provinces refuted the numbers, halting the census.

The census will prepare for the national election next year and will help to shift administrative boundaries, parliamentary seat allocations, and finances.

Several groups have voiced concerns about the census. Residents of the province of Punjab fear diminished influence because their population has grown at a slower rate than that of other provinces.

Ethnic Balochis are worried that they will be labeled a minority in their home province of Balochistan because of the increased Pashtun presence in the province. Balochis also fear that the census will include the province’s more than one million Afghan refugees with Pakistani national identity cards.

Federally-administered tribal areas will become part of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, allowing the province to have greater representation in government.

According to The Express Tribune, only nine of around 70 Pakistani languages will be included in the census. In terms of religion, Pakistanis can declare themselves Muslim, Christian, Hindu or “members of scheduled castes,” referring to marginalized indigenous groups.

On March 16, Pakistan’s Supreme Court required that PBS and the federal government include individuals with disabilities and transgender individuals in the census.