Formal Name: Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Short Form: Pakistan.

Term for Citizens: Pakistani(s).

Capital: Islamabad (Islamabad Capital Territory).

Date of Independence: August 14, 1947, from Britain.

National Holiday: Pakistan Day (proclamation of the republic), March 23, 1956

GEOGRAPHY

Size: Total land area estimated to be 796,095 square kilometers.

Topography: Three major geographic areas: northern highlands, Indus River plain, and Balochistan Plateau.

Climate: Generally arid; hot summers, cool or cold winters; wide variations of temperature in given locale and between coastal area on Arabian Sea and glacial regions of northern areas; little rainfall.

SOCIETY

Population: 1994 (July) estimated 129 million; annual growth rate officially estimated at 3.1 percent.

Ethnic Groups: In general percentages of population similar to linguistic groups: Punjabis 66 percent, Sindhis 13 percent, Pakhtuns 9 percent, Baloch 3 percent, muhajirs (immigrants from India and their descendants) 8 percent, and other ethnic groups 1 percent.

Language: Urdu official language, but English in general use in government, military, business, and higher education. Urdu spoken as native tongue by only 8 percent of population, Punjabi by about 48 percent, the Punjabi variant Siraiki by 10 percent, Sindhi by about 12 percent, Pakhtu or Pashto by about 8 or 9 percent, Balochi, 3 percent, Hindko, 2 percent, and Brahui, 1 percent. Native speakers of other languages, including English and Burushaski, account for 8 percent of population.

Religion: About 97 percent of Pakistanis are Muslim, 77 percent of whom are Sunnis and 20 percent Shia; remaining 3 percent of population divided equally among Christians, Hindus, and other religions.

Education and Literacy: In 1992 overall literacy rate estimated at more than 36 percent for adult population. Literacy rates substantially lower for women. In 1990 only forty-five educated women for every 100 educated men. Education organized into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve); and university undergraduate and graduate programs. Preparatory classes (kachi, or nursery) formally incorporated into the system in 1988.

Health and Welfare: Substandard housing, inadequate sanitation and water supply, and widespread malnutrition contribute to spread of disease and to high infant, childhood, and maternal mortality. Leading causes of death gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, congenital abnormalities, tuberculosis, malaria, and typhoid fever.

ECONOMY

Salient Features: Low-income country with promising growth but transition to middle-income nation held back by chronic problems including rapidly rising population, sizable government deficits, heavy dependence on foreign aid, large military expenditures, and recurrent governmental instability.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): In FY 1993, equivalent of US$50.8 billion, or about US$408 per capita; GDP growth rate averaged 5.3 percent a year between 1950 and 1993.

Agriculture: Declined over the past four decades from 53 percent of GDP in 1950 to 25 percent of GDP in FY 1993, but still employs about 48 percent of labor force. Notable for having world's largest continuous irrigation canal system.

Industry: Leading growth component of economy, industry (including mining, manufacturing, and utilities) accounted for about 21.7 percent of GDP in FY 1993, up from 8 percent in FY 1950, and employed 13 percent of labor force.

Services: Services, including construction, trade, transportation and communications, and other services, accounted for 53.3 percent of GDP in FY 1993 and employed 39 percent of labor force. About 7 percent of civilian work force employed in construction, 13 percent in trade, 5 percent in transportation, and 14 percent in other services.

Energy: Firewood, bagasse, and dung major energy sources. Small crude oil production; over 90 percent of petroleum requirements imported. Natural gas, oil, and hydroelectric power major domestic commercial energy sources. Substantial deposits of poor-quality coal. Energy supplies constrain industrialization in mid-1990s.

Foreign Trade: United States and Japan largest trading partners. In FY 1993 United States accounted for 13.7 percent of Pakistan's exports and 11.2 percent of its imports. Japan accounted for 6.6 percent of exports and 14.2 percent of imports. Germany, Britain, and Saudi Arabia important trading partners. Hong Kong important export market. China significant supplier of imports. Trade with India negligible. Cotton and rice major exports; petrochemicals, chemicals, machinery, and transportation equipment major imports.

Balance of Payments and External Debt: Negative balance of trade in early and mid-1990s. In FY 1992, exports US$6.9 billion and imports US$9.3 billion, resulting in trade deficit of approximately US$2.4 billion. Trade deficit expected to increase to US$2.5 billion in 1993. World Bank estimated US$24.1 billion external debt in 1992.

Foreign Aid: Dependent on foreign aid for development efforts and balancing debt payments. United States the largest donor of aid since independence; all United States military aid, and all new civilian commitments ended October 1990.

Currency and Exchange Rate: Rupee (Rs) divided into 100 paisa. US$1=Rs30.30 rupees in February 1994.

Fiscal Year: July 1 - June 30.

TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Roads: Road system extends approximately 180,000 kilometers in 1992; asphalt roads about 51 percent of total. Work on four-lane 339-kilometer highway between Lahore and Islamabad began January 1993. Number of motor vehicles estimated at nearly 2 million in 1992, including 932,000 motorcycles, 454,000 automobiles, 220,000 tractors, 157,000 trucks and vans, and 37,000 buses.

Railroads: 8,775 kilometers total; 7,718 kilometers broad gauge, 445 kilometers 1-meter gauge, and 610 kilometers less than 1-meter gauge; 1,037 kilometers broad-gauge double track; 286 kilometers electrified; most government owned.

Civil Aviation: International airports at Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta. Pakistan International Airlines national carrier.

Ports: Karachi, Port Muhammad bin Qasim, Gwadar, and Pasni.

Telecommunications: Telegraph and telephone systems government owned; more than 1.6 million telephone connections in March 1993. Radio and telephone dominated by government corporations; Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation had monopoly on radio broadcasting with home service of 270 hours daily in twenty languages and world service of ten hours daily in two languages in 1995; nineteen AM, eight FM broadcasting stations. Governmentcontrolled Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) transmits daily.