Karachi: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Sindh Director Munawwar Ali Ghangro shared the latest numbers on Saturday. Even though there are still questions about the ongoing seventh population census, especially Karachi’s count.
Ghangro said that the metropolis’s population has grown by 1.4 million and now has more than 17.4 million people. Also, the number of people living in Sindh has grown by 6.46 million, to 54.31 million.
The PBS told representatives of political parties about the ongoing census. Which’s done digitally for the first time, the day before the new numbers came out.
Earlier, its said that the ongoing digital population census had shown some serious “abnormal results” so far. Especially in Balochistan and Sindh.
In Balochistan, the population grew by 7.8%, and an initial look showed that some divisions, like Panjgur. As well as Makran, Rakshan, and others, grew faster than usual.
Karachi, the largest city in the country, saw its population grow by only 0.4%, while rural Sindh grew by an amazing 9%. In the same way, early results suggest that the number of people living in Karachi and Lahore was close to 16 million.
Several political parties, such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), have raised concerns about the census, especially about overcounting and undercounting in some areas.
The MQM-P, a key partner of the ruling coalition in the Centre, also said to asked its lawmakers to quit over the census issue. Then, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal told by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to deal with the complaints.
A group also put together to look into the problems.
