The overall population growth rate in Pakistan accelerated by 0.15% to 2.55% in the past five year from 2.4% between 1998 and 2017, according to the results of the country’s first-ever digital Population and Housing Census 2023.

The population in Pakistan reached 241.4 million compared to 207.68 million recorded in the census 2017.

The meeting of the Council of Common Interests approved the digital census 2023 on Saturday increasing the likelihood of a delay in the national polls.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over the CCI meeting in Islamabad.

Chief ministers of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa participated in the meeting, which was convened by PM Shehbaz after the Ministry of Planning and Development moved a summary for convening the CCI meeting to grant approval of the census results.

Based on population, Punjab remains at the top among the provinces with a population of 127.68 million, compared with the figure of 109.98 million in 2017.

The province also recorded the highest increase in the growth rate, as its growth rate surged by 0.4% to hit 2.53%, against 2.13% recorded in 2017.

The population of Sindh reached 55.69 million in 2023, from 47.85 million in the last census.

The growth rate in the province recorded an increase of 0.16% to clock-in at 2.57%, compared with 2017 when the growth rate was recorded at 2.41%.

Based on population figures, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained the third with a population of 40.85 million, as against a population of 30.5 million in 2017.

However, the province’s growth rate showed a decline of 0.44% to reach 2.38%, compared with 2.82% in the census of 2017.

Balochistan’s population figures came at 14.89 million growing by a rate of 3.2% in latest census, from 12.33 million in the previous census. The growth rate recorded a decrease of 0.17% from the earlier figure of 3.37% in the previous census.

Islamabad’s population growth rate witnessed a significant decline of 2.73% in the latest census to hit 2.18%, compared with the 4.91% in the census of 2.17% in the census held in 2017.

The population of Islamabad reached 2.36 million in the 2023, compared with 2 million in the census of 2017.