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Pakistan

PK

South Asia

Pakistan is home to 10 documented ethnic groups in South Asia — led by Punjabi Pakistani (~45%), Pashtun (~15%), Sindhi (~14%), Saraiki (~11%). This page blends their phenotype and demographic data into one weighted reference: skin tone, facial features, hair texture and build, drawn from published census and ancestry sources.

Demographic Composition

Composition weights are derived from self-identification in published census and demographic surveys. Each row links to the source ethnic-group atlas page.

Ethnic groupWeightSource
Punjabi PakistaniPunjabi Pakistani44.8%Pakistan Bureau of Statistics 2017 Census Mother Tongue data; Punjabi (~44.8%, ~110M+ in Pakistan) is the largest ethnic group, concentrated in Punjab Province plus Azad Kashmir and Islamabad. The Pakistani Punjabi-language population is the largest single Punjabi-speaking population in the world, distinct from the smaller cross-border Indian-Punjabi population (~33M)
PashtunPashtun15.1%Pakistan 2017 Census, Pashto Mother Tongue (~15.1%, ~37M+ in Pakistan); concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province plus the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA, merged into KP in 2018), parts of Balochistan, and the substantial Pashtun diaspora in Karachi and other major cities. Cross-border population shared with Afghanistan (~16M+ Afghan Pashtuns)
SindhiSindhi14.4%Pakistan 2017 Census, Sindhi Mother Tongue (~14.4%, ~35M+); concentrated in Sindh Province (excluding Karachi which is predominantly Urdu-speaking). The Sindhi-language community is the largest national Sindhi-speaking population in the world; the historically Hindu Sindhi community in India (post-Partition refugees) is much smaller
SaraikiSaraiki10.8%Pakistan 2017 Census, Saraiki Mother Tongue (~10.8%, ~26M+); concentrated in southern Punjab (Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan) plus parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Saraiki is sometimes classified as a Punjabi dialect and sometimes as a separate Indo-Aryan language depending on linguistic-political classification
Urdu PakistaniUrdu Pakistani7.1%Pakistan 2017 Census, Urdu Mother Tongue (~7.1%, ~17M+); the Urdu-speaking community concentrated heavily in Karachi (the country's largest city, with the largest Urdu-speaking population) plus Hyderabad, Sukkur, and other Sindh urban centers — descendants of post-1947 Partition Muslim refugees from northern India (predominantly Uttar Pradesh, Bihar) called Muhajirs ('migrants' in Urdu/Arabic). The Muhajir community has been politically and economically prominent in Karachi since the 1947 founding of Pakistan
BalochiBalochi3.9%Pakistan 2017 Census, Balochi Mother Tongue (~3.9%, ~9.5M+); concentrated in Balochistan Province in southwestern Pakistan along the Iranian and Afghan borders. Cross-border population shared with Iran (~1.5M+ Iranian Balochi) and Afghanistan. The Balochi language is part of the Northwestern Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian
HindkoHindko2.2%Pakistan 2017 Census, Hindko Mother Tongue (~2.2%, ~5.4M+); concentrated in Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa plus Peshawar urban areas. Hindko is a Northwestern Indo-Aryan language related to Punjabi and is sometimes classified as a Punjabi dialect
BrahuiBrahui1.2%Pakistan 2017 Census, Brahui Mother Tongue (~1.2%, ~2.9M+); concentrated in Balochistan Province. The Brahui language is a Dravidian language — extraordinary as the only Dravidian language spoken outside the Indian subcontinent's southern peninsula, suggesting either a relict pre-Indo-Aryan Dravidian population in northwestern South Asia or a more recent migration history
Kashmiri PakistaniKashmiri Pakistani0.3%Pakistan 2017 Census, Kashmiri Mother Tongue in Pakistan (~0.3%, ~750,000); concentrated in Azad Kashmir. Cross-border population shared with Indian-administered Kashmir
Pakistani OtherPakistani Other0.2%Pakistan 2017 Census residual, includes smaller Indo-Aryan and Dardic populations: Burushaski (the linguistic-isolate language of Hunza, Yasin, and Nagar in Gilgit-Baltistan), Khowar (Chitral), Shina (Gilgit-Baltistan), Wakhi (Wakhan-corridor cross-border with Tajikistan), plus the very small communities of Pakistan's religious-minority populations (Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, Ahmadi)

Pakistan Phenotype Profile

Pakistan's population is predominantly Indo-Iranian-language-speaking with a complex multi-ethnic structure dominated by Punjabis (~45%), Pashtuns (~15%), Sindhis (~14%), Saraikis (~11%), Urdu-speakers / Muhajirs (~7%), Balochis (~4%), Hindko-speakers (~2%), Brahuis (~1%), Kashmiris, and smaller communities (Burushaski, Khowar, Shina, Wakhi, plus religious minorities). The country's demographic structure reflects approximately 4,000+ years of population processes from the Indus Valley Civilization (~3300-1300 BCE) through the Indo-Aryan migration, the Iranian-language Pashtun and Balochi populations of the western highlands, the Persianate Mughal cultural influence, and the post-1947 Partition demographic restructuring with the substantial Muhajir migration from India. The country is approximately 96% Muslim (predominantly Sunni ~85% plus Shia ~10-15% including substantial Twelver and smaller Ismaili communities) with smaller Hindu (~1.5-2%), Christian (~1.5%), Sikh, Parsi, and Ahmadi communities.

Genome-wide studies (Reich et al. 2009, Narasimhan et al. 2019) place Pakistani populations as showing higher Ancestral North Indian (ANI) ancestry than most Indian populations — particularly in the northwestern Punjabi and Pashtun populations — reflecting both the geographic position and the closer relationship to Steppe-pastoralist source populations. Pashtun and Pakistani-Punjabi populations show some of the highest documented Steppe-pastoralist-derived ancestry (Yamnaya / Sintashta-related) of any South Asian populations.

Skin tone across the population spans Fitzpatrick II-V with III-IV the modal value nationally — among the lighter-skinned South Asian populations, particularly in the northwestern Punjabi and Pashtun populations. Hair texture is predominantly straight to wavy (Andre Walker 1A-2B) and uniformly dark brown to black across most populations. Eye color is predominantly brown nationally with elevated frequencies of hazel, green, and rarely blue variants in northwestern populations (Pashtun, Punjabi, Kashmiri). Facial features and build show characteristic Northwestern South Asian / Iranian-adjacent source-population features. Adult Pakistani male mean stature is approximately 168-173 cm in 2010s-2020s urban cohorts — somewhat taller than the broader Indian average but still substantially shorter than Northern European or Northeast Asian source-population averages.

A descriptive view, not a claim about individuals

This page shows a weighted aggregate of phenotype observations across the Pakistan population, based on demographic composition from published census and ancestry sources. Phenotypes within any country are far more varied than the aggregate suggests; this is a descriptive reference, not a deterministic claim about any individual. For source-level detail on individual ethnic groups, see the constituent atlas pages linked below.

Methodology Notes

Composition weights are derived from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics 2017 Census (the most recent comprehensive Pakistani census; the planned 2023 census results have been released but the 2017 data with detailed Mother Tongue tables remains the canonical reference). The Pakistani census enumerates Mother Tongue rather than ethnicity directly. Caveats: (1) Saraiki is classified as a separate Mother Tongue in the 2017 Census but linguistic classification as a Punjabi dialect vs separate language is contested; (2) the Urdu Mother Tongue category captures the Muhajir community (post-1947 refugees from northern India and their descendants) but does not capture the broader Urdu-speaking population that uses Urdu as a second-language lingua franca; (3) the Kashmir issue has substantial demographic and political complexity — the Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan populations are enumerated within Pakistan's totals; (4) the 2023 census reported substantial population growth from 2017 (approximately 230M+ as of 2023 vs the 2017 enumeration of ~207M); (5) the Hindu Pakistani religious-minority population (~3M+ in Sindh, predominantly Sindhi-language Hindus and the lower-caste Kohli, Bhil, Meghwar populations) is enumerated by Mother Tongue rather than separately as a religious community; (6) the Ahmadi Muslim community (~5M+) is constitutionally classified as non-Muslim and faces substantial state and societal discrimination.

See full project methodology →

Primary Sources

  1. 1.Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Population Census 2017: Mother Tongue Tables. Islamabad: PBS; 2018.
  2. 2.Reich D, Thangaraj K, Patterson N, et al. Reconstructing Indian population history. Nature. 2009;461(7263):489-494.
  3. 3.Narasimhan VM, Patterson N, Moorjani P, et al. The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science. 2019;365(6457):eaat7487.
  4. 4.Spain JW. The Pathan Borderland. The Hague: Mouton; 1963 (foundational ethnography).
  5. 5.Talbot I. Pakistan: A Modern History (3rd ed). Hurst; 2009.

Other countries in South Asia

Aggregate phenotype references for neighbouring South Asia nations, weighted by demographic composition.

Browse all South Asiaethnic groups & countries →