People of Pakistan

Pakistan are ethnically diverse. They trace their ethnic lineages to many different origins, largely because the country lies in an area that was invaded repeatedly during its long history. Migrations of Muslims from India since 1947 and refugees from Afghanistan since the 1980s have significantly changed the demographics of certain areas of the country. The people of Pakistan come from ethnic stocks such as Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Greek, Scythian, Hun, Arab, Mongol, Persian, and Afghan. Although an overwhelming majority of the people are Muslim, religion does not supercede ethnic affiliations. The people follow many different cultural traditions and speak many different languages and dialects.Pakistan has a population of 150,694,740 (2003 estimate), yielding an average population density of 189 persons per sq km (490 per sq mi). The country’s population was increasing in 2003 at a rate of 2 percent a year. Only 33 percent of the people live in urban areas.