Pakistan

Islamic Republic of Pakistan اسلامی جمہوریہ پاكستان (Urdu) Islāmī Jumhūriyah Pākistān[1]
Flag State emblem (Coat of arms)
Motto: Īmān, Ittihād, Nazam ایمان، اتحاد، نظم "Faith, Unity, Discipline"[2]
Anthem: Qaumī Tarānah قَومی ترانہ "The National Anthem"
Land controlled by Pakistan shown in dark green; land claimed but not controlled shown in light green
Capital	Islamabad 33°41′30″N 73°03′00″E / 33.69167°N 73.05000°E / 33.69167; 73.05000
Largest city	Karachi 24°51′36″N 67°00′36″E / 24.86000°N 67.01000°E / 24.86000; 67.01000
Official languages	Urdu English[a]
Native languages	Over 77 languages[4]
Religion	96.5% Islam (official)[5] 2.1% Hinduism 1.3% Christianity 0.1% other
Demonym(s)	Pakistani
Government	Federal Islamic parliamentary republic
• President	Asif Ali Zardari
• Prime Minister	Shehbaz Sharif
• Chairman of the Senate	Yusuf Raza Gilani
• Speaker of the National Assembly	Ayaz Sadiq
• Chief Justice	Qazi Faez Isa
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	National Assembly
Independence  from the United Kingdom
• Declaration	23 March 1940
• Recognized dominion	14 August 1947
• Republic	23 March 1956
• Last territory's acquisition	8 December 1958
• Eastern territory withdrawn	16 December 1971
• Current constitution	14 August 1973
Area
• Total	881,913 km2 (340,509 sq mi)[b][7] (33rd)
• Water (%)	2.86
Population
• 2023 census	241,499,431[c] (5th)
• Density	273.8/km2 (709.1/sq mi) (56th)
GDP (PPP)	2024 estimate
• Total	$1.643 trillion[9] (24th)
• Per capita	$6,955[9] (137th)
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$338.237 billion[9] (43rd)
• Per capita	$1,461[9] (158th)
Gini (2018)	29.6[10] low
HDI (2022)	0.540[10] low (164th)
Currency	Pakistani rupee (₨) (PKR)
Time zone	UTC+05:00 (PKT)
	DST is not observed
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy[d]
Driving side	left[11]
Calling code	+92
ISO 3166 code	PK
Internet TLD	.pk پاکستان.

You may need rendering support to display the Urdu text in this article correctly.

Pakistan,^[e] officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,^[f] is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023.^[8] Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country by area and the ninth-largest in Asia. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south, the Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with India to the east; Afghanistan to the west; Iran to the southwest; and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor.

Pakistan is the site of several ancient cultures, including the 8,500-year-old Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in Balochistan, the Indus Valley civilisation of the Bronze Age,^[12][13] and the ancient Gandhara civilisation.^[14] The regions that comprise the modern state of Pakistan were the realm of multiple empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid, the Maurya, the Kushan, the Gupta;^[15] the Umayyad Caliphate in its southern regions, the Samma, the Hindu Shahis, the Shah Miris, the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals,^[16] and most recently, the British Raj from 1858 to 1947.

Spurred by the Pakistan Movement, which sought a homeland for the Muslims of British India, and election victories in 1946 by the All-India Muslim League, Pakistan gained independence in 1947 after the Partition of the British Indian Empire, which awarded separate statehood to its Muslim-majority regions and was accompanied by an unparalleled mass migration and loss of life.^[17][18] Initially a Dominion of the British Commonwealth, Pakistan officially drafted its constitution in 1956, and emerged as a declared Islamic republic. In 1971, the exclave of East Pakistan seceded as the new country of Bangladesh after a nine-month-long civil war. In the following four decades, Pakistan has been ruled by governments whose descriptions, although complex, commonly alternated between civilian and military, democratic and authoritarian, relatively secular and Islamist.^[19]

Pakistan is considered a middle power nation,^[20] with the world's sixth-largest standing armed forces. It is a declared nuclear-weapons state, and is ranked amongst the emerging and growth-leading economies,^[21][22][23] with a large and rapidly-growing middle class.^[24][25] Pakistan's political history since independence has been characterized by periods of significant economic and military growth as well as those of political and economic instability. It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with similarly diverse geography and wildlife. The country continues to face challenges, including poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and terrorism.^[26][27][28] Pakistan is a member of the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Commonwealth of Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and the Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition, and is designated as a major non-NATO ally by the United States.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).