Pakistan Country Profile

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is located in Southern Asia and bordered by Afghanistan, China, India and Iran. Pakistan has a population of 204.92 million, the sixth most populous country globally, with the majority of the population centres being located around the Indus River and its tributaries.

Pakistan’s first capital, Karachi, is the nation’s largest urban area with 16.61 million inhabitants, whilst 1.37 million people live in the current capital, Islamabad.

The metropoles of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Multan all also contain greater than one million inhabitants.

The official language is Urdu, although English is also used, and the vast majority of the population are Muslim: Sunni Islam forms the majority.[1]

In terms of the business, domestic and geopolitical climate, Pakistan is a high-risk country. There is poor economic diversification and Pakistan remains embroiled in the Kashmir dispute with India and against Baluch nationalists, whilst facing a severe threat of domestic terrorism from groups such as the TTP.[2]

Pakistan faces severe corruption problems. Pakistan was ranked 116 of 176 in Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Index.[3] Despite anti-corruption legislation, corrupt practices, such as bribery, are widespread throughout government institutions and economic sectors.

The scale of corruption was highlighted when the ousted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was indicted in October 2017 over corruption claims.

Pakistan’s GDP was measured at US$278.91 billion in 2016 and has growth forecasts of 5.5-6% annually until 2022. Pakistan has a severe trade deficit whilst textiles form over 60% of export earnings.[4] The official currency is the Pakistani Rupee.

Pakistan is defined as a federal parliamentary republic. President Mamnoon Hussain acts as the current head of state, whilst Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi is the current head of government, following Nawaz Sharif’s resignation on 28/7/2017.

The president is elected by members of the Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies, with the next election to be held in 2018. The prime minister is elected by the National Assembly. The National Assembly forms the lower house of the bicameral parliament and the Senate forms the upper house. Members of the senate are elected by proportional representation vote, as are 70 members of the Assembly, whilst the remaining 272 members are elected by simple majority vote in their respective constituencies.[5] The next elections are to be held in 2018.

[1] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html.

[2] https://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/pakistan/risk.

[3] https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016#table.

[4] http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/PAK;  http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/PAK; https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/pak/.

[5] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html.