19 Years Since The Last Census, Pakistan All Set For A Headcount

Almost two decades since it last took account of the number of people inhabiting its land, Pakistan will conduct its sixth housing and population census from 15 March.

Despite a lot of disapproval and disagreements from its political class who fear the repercussions of the changes in provincial demographics, Pakistan will conduct its long due census with one military officer accompanying every census enumerator to avoid any untoward incidents.

Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa said that 200,000 military personnel will be assisting the election officers in the 70 day process. This census was originally scheduled for March last year but had been postponed citing unavailability of army personnel for the same. "Some regions are over-represented in the parliament and the political elite are wary of the census because it changes the voting pattern, changes the representation in the parliament," said Shahid Faiz, chief executive of Free and Fair Election Network, the organisation collecting electoral data .

Pakistan uses the official figure of 134.7 million from its last census of 1998, whereas the World Bank had estimated the country’s headcount to be around 188.9 million in 2015.

Apart from Afghan refugees, this census for the first time in the history of Pakistan will see the inclusion of the transgender community, while also taking special account of the number and nature of disability of disabled persons in the country.

With inputs from ANI