Pakistan displays some of Asia’s most magnificent landscapes as it stretches from the Arabian Sea, its southern border, to some of the world’s most spectacular mountain ranges in the north. Pakistan is also home to sites that date back to word’s earliest settlements rivaling those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Location

Located in South Asia, Pakistan shares an eastern border with India and a north-eastern border with China. Iran makes up the country’s south-west border, and Afghanistan runes along its western and northern edge. The Arabian Sea is Pakistan’s southern boundary with 1,064 km of coastline.
The country has a total area of 796,095 sq km and is nearly four times the size of the United Kingdom. From Gwadar Bay in it’s south-eastern corner, the country extends more than 1,800 km to the Khunjerab Pass on China’s border.

Land & People

Pakistan is a land of many splendours. The scenery changes northward from coastal beaches, lagoons and mangrove swamps in the south to sandy deserts, desolate plateaus, fertile plains, dissected upland in the middle and high mountains with beautiful valleys, snow-covered peaks and eternal glaciers in the north. The variety of landscape divides Pakistan into six major regions: the North High Mountainous Region, the Western Low Mountainous Region, the Balochistan Plateau, the Potohar Uplands, the Punjab and the Sindh Plains.
There is a considerable trans-humane from the mountains to the plains in winter and from plains to the mountains in summer. The permanent settlers grow corn, maize, barely, wheat and rice on the terraced fields and also raise orchards of apples, apricots, peaches and grapes. Peaks and Glaciers Eric Shipton, a great mountainer who perished in Pakistan's Northern Areas, wrote in his account. To describe this region is to indulge in superlatives, for everywhere you look are the highest, the longest and the largest mountains, glaciers and rivers in the world.

Population

The population of the country as on 1st January, 1994, is estimated at about 124.45 million with its male/female ratio of 52.50:47.50 per cent. The current growth rate of 3.0 per cent is the highest among nine most populous countries of the world. The population is expected to reach 150 million by the year 2000. Density per square kilometre is 156 persons. Literacy rate is estimated to be 36.8 per cent. Of the four provinces, with 25.8 per cent of land area of the country, Punjab has 56.5 per cent of the total population; Sindh, with 17.7 per cent of land area, has 22.6 per cent: NWFP, (including FATA) with 12.8 per cent of land area, has 15.7 per cent; Balochistan, with 43.6 per cent of land area, has 5.1 per cent.
Thus, Punjab is the most densely (240 persons per sq km) populated province, follwed by Sindh and NWFP. Balochistan is the least populated province, with 19 persons per square kilomatre. The overall population density of the country is 156 persons per square kilometre as estimated in 1994. Sindh is the urbainised province with 43 per cent of the people living in urban areas including Karachi City. The urban population of Punjab is 28 per cent followed by NWFP, 21 per cent, and Balochistan 16 per cent. About 67 per cent of the total urban population of the country lives in 28 cities with population of 100,000 and above, while 57 per cent of the total urban population lives in 12 cities with population lives in 12 cities with population of 200,000 and above. Age Composition According to the Labour Force Survey, 1990-91, 46.93 of the population is under 15 years of age; 49.66 per cent is between the age groups of 15 and 64 years, while 3.41 per cent comprises persons 65 years old and above.