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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
Pakistan's people are not evenly distributed throughout
the
country. There is an average of 146 persons per square
kilometer,
but the density varies dramatically, ranging from scarcely
populated arid areas, especially in Balochistan, to some
of the
highest urban densities in the world in Karachi and
Lahore.
About 68 percent of the population lived in rural areas
in
1994, a decrease of 7 percent since 1970. In contrast, the
number
of people living in urban areas has risen substantially,
resulting in an urban growth rate of 4.6 percent between
1980 and
1991.
More than half of Pakistan's population is below the
age of
fifteen; nearly a third is below the age of nine
(see
fig. 6).
For cultural reasons, enumerating the precise number of
females
has been difficult--and estimates of the percentage of
females in
the population range from 47.5 percent in the 1981 census
to 48.3
percent in the 1987-88 Labour Force Survey. Pakistan is
one of
the few countries in the world with an inverse sex ratio:
official sources claim there are 111 men for every 100
women. The
discrepancy is particularly obvious among people over
fifty: men
account for 7.1 percent of the country's total population
and
women for less than 5 percent. This figure reflects the
secondary
status of females in Pakistani society, especially their
lack of
access to quality medical care.
Data as of April 1994
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