Demographic

The 1961 Census of Pakistan provided historical estimates of the religious composition in the country, amalgamating data from past decadal censuses in British India. According to these estimates, in 1901, Hindus constituted approximately 17.1% of the total population, numbering around 2,327,000 individuals. By 1911, the Hindu population declined to around 14.1% or 2,267,000 persons. It then increased to approximately 2,523,000 individuals in 1921, with the proportion rising slightly to 14.8%. Despite a slight decline to 14.6% in 1931, the total Hindu population grew to about 3,115,000 individuals. In the absence of partition and subsequent events, it is estimated that the present-day Hindu population in Pakistan would be around 30,320,000 or 14.6%.

In the 1941 census, Hindus constituted 14.6% of the population in West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and 28% in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). After Pakistan’s independence in 1947, around 4.7 million Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India. The 1951 census showed that West Pakistan had a Hindu population of 1.3%, while East Pakistan had 22.05%. Hindus accounted for approximately 12.9% of the total population of Pakistan in that census, making it the second-largest Hindu-populated country after India. After the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, the Hindu population in Pakistan decreased as Bangladesh was no longer included in the census.

The 1998 census recorded 2,443,614 Hindus in Pakistan, constituting 1.85% of the total population, with about 7.5% in the Sindh province. The 2017 census reported 4,444,870 Hindus, accounting for 2.14% of the total population. However, the Pakistan Hindu Council claims that the Hindu population is around 8 million as of 2020.

Hinduism (%) in Pakistan by decades

In 1956, the government of Pakistan designated 32 castes and tribes, primarily Hindus, as scheduled castes. The Pakistan Census separates scheduled caste members from Hindus, and in the 2017 census, they accounted for 0.41% of the national population (up from 0.25% in 1998 census). However, the actual population of Scheduled Caste Hindus is believed to be higher as they identify themselves as Hindus in the census rather than as scheduled castes.

According to data from the Election Commission of Pakistan in 2018, there were approximately 1.77 million Hindu voters. Hindu voters constituted 49% of the total in Umerkot and 46% in Tharparkar. Estimates suggest that there are Hindu populations of 50,000 or more in 11 districts, primarily in Sindh, with one district in Punjab (Rahim Yar Khan).