Punjab, Pakistan

This article is about the Pakistani province of Punjab. For the geographical region, see Punjab. For the state of India, see Punjab, India. For other uses of the name, see Punjab (disambiguation).

Punjab
پنجاب
Province
Province of Punjab
Flag of Punjab
Flag
Official seal of Punjab
Seal
Etymology: Panj (means "five") and āb (means "waters")
Location of Punjab within Pakistan
Location of Punjab within Pakistan
Coordinates: 31°N 72°E / 31°N 72°E / 31; 72
Country Pakistan
Established1 July 1970; 54 years ago (1 July 1970)
Before wasPart of West Pakistan
Capital
and largest city		Lahore
Administrative Divisions
11
Government
 • TypeSelf-governing province subject to the federal government
 • BodyGovernment of Punjab
 • GovernorSardar Saleem Haider Khan
 • Chief MinisterMaryam Nawaz
 • Chief SecretaryZahid Akhtar Zaman
 • LegislatureProvincial Assembly
 • High CourtLahore High Court
Area
 • Province205,344 km2 (79,284 sq mi)
 • Rank2nd
Population
 (2023 census)[1]
 • Province127,333,305
 • Rank1st
 • Density622/km2 (1,610/sq mi)
 • Urban
51,975,967 (40.71%)
 • Rural
75,712,955 (59.29%)
DemonymPunjabi
GDP (nominal)
 • Total (2022)$225 billion (1st)[a]
 • Per Capita$2,003 (2nd)
GDP (PPP)
 • Total (2022)$925 billion (1st)[a]
 • Per Capita$8,027 (2nd)
Time zoneUTC+05:00 (PKT)
ISO 3166 codePK-PB
Languages
Provincial sports teams
List:
HDI (2021)0.567Increase[4]
medium
Literacy rate (2020)71.3%[5]
National Assembly seats183
Provincial Assembly seats371[6]
Divisions11
Districts41
Tehsils148
Union councils7602
Websitepunjab.gov.pk

Punjab (/pʌnˈdʒɑːb/; Punjabi, Urdu: پنجاب, pronounced [pənˈd͡ʒɑːb] ⓘ) is a province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the most populous province in Pakistan and second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, it has the largest economy, contributing the most to national GDP, in Pakistan. Lahore is the capital and largest city. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Multan.

It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-west, Balochistan to the south-west and Sindh to the south, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory to the north-west and Azad Kashmir to the north. It shares an international border with the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab to the east and Indian-administered Kashmir to the north-east. Punjab is the most fertile province of the country as the Indus River and its four major tributaries Ravi, Jhelum, Chenab and Sutlej flow through it.

The province forms the bulk of the transnational Punjab region, divided in 1947 among Pakistan and India.[7] The government, legislature, and other institutions of the province are based in the capital, Lahore. The province is represented in the federal parliament through 173, out of 336, seats in National Assembly, the lower house; and 23, out of 96, seats in Senate, the upper house.

Punjab is Pakistan's most industrialized province, with the industrial sector comprising 24 percent of the province's gross domestic product.[8] It is known for its relative prosperity,[9] and has the lowest rate of poverty among all Pakistani provinces.[10][b] However, a clear divide is present between the northern and southern regions of the province;[9] with northern Punjab being more developed than south Punjab.[11][12] Punjab is also one of the most urbanized regions of South Asia, with approximately 40 percent of its population being concentrated in urban areas.[13]

Punjabi Muslims, predominantly adhering to Sunni Islam, are natives of the province, comprising nearly 98 percent of the total population.[14] Punjabis are the third-largest predominantly Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in the world, globally,[15] after Arabs[16] and Bengalis.[17] Muhammad Iqbal, the National poet of Pakistan and one of the leading Islamic thought leaders and Islamic revivalists[18] of the 20th century, who is also widely regarded as having animated the pulse for the Pakistan Movement,[19] [20] was born and raised in Punjab.[21][22][23] Punjabi culture has been strongly influenced by Sufism, with numerous Sufi shrines of the likes of Meher Ali Shah, Baba Farid, Bari Imam and Sultan Bahu, spread across the province.[24][25][26][27] Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born in the town of Nankana Sahib, near Lahore.[28][29][30] Punjab is also the site of the Katas Raj Temples, which feature prominently in Hindu mythology.[31] Several of the World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO are located in Punjab, including the Shalimar Gardens, the Lahore Fort, the archaeological excavations at Taxila, and the Rohtas Fort, among others.[32]

  1. ^ "Announcement of Results of 7th Population and Housing Census-2023 (Punjab province)" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (www.pbs.gov.pk). 5 August 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  2. ^ "GDP OF KHYBER PUKHTUNKHWA'S DISTRICTS" (PDF). kpbos.gov.pk.
  3. ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects".
  4. ^ "Sub-national HDI – Subnational HDI – Global Data Lab". Globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  5. ^ "KP Achieves Highest Literacy Rate Growth Among All Provinces". Propakistani. 9 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Provincial Assembly – Punjab". Archived from the original on 1 February 2009.
  7. ^ "'Wrong number' couple fight India deportation". BBC News. 4 September 2023.
  8. ^ Government of the Punjab – Planning & Development Department (March 2015). "PUNJAB GROWTH STRATEGY 2018 Accelerating Economic Growth and Improving Social Outcomes" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2016. The industrial sector of Punjab employs around 23% of the province's labour force and contributes 24% to the provincial GDP
  9. ^ a b Farooqui, Tashkeel (20 June 2016). "Northern Punjab, urban Sindh people more prosperous than rest of country: report". The Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  10. ^ Arif, G. M. "Poverty Profile of Pakistan" (PDF). Benazir Income Support Programme. Government of Pakistan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016. Among the four provinces, the highest incidence of poverty is found in Sindh (45%), followed by Balochistan (44%), Khyber Pakhtukhaw (KP) (37%) and Punjab (21%)
  11. ^ Arif, G. M. "Poverty Profile of Pakistan" (PDF). Benazir Income Support Programme. Government of Pakistan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016. See Table 5, Page 12 "Sialkot District"
  12. ^ Arif, G. M. "Poverty Profile of Pakistan" (PDF). Benazir Income Support Programme. Government of Pakistan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016. See Table 5, Page 12 "Rajanpur District"
  13. ^ Government of the Punjab – Planning & Development Department (March 2015). "PUNJAB GROWTH STRATEGY 2018 Accelerating Economic Growth and Improving Social Outcomes" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2016. Punjab is among the most urbanized regions of South Asia and is experiencing a consistent and long-term demographic shift of the population to urban regions and cities, with around 40% of the province's population living in urban areas
  14. ^ "TABLE 9 – POPULATION BY SEX, RELIGION AND RURAL/URBAN" (PDF). Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  15. ^ Gandhi, Rajmohan (2013). Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. New Delhi, India; Urbana, Illinois: Aleph Book Company. p. 2. ISBN 978-93-83064-41-0.
  16. ^ Margaret Kleffner Nydell Understanding Arabs: A Guide For Modern Times, Intercultural Press, 2005, ISBN 1-931930-25-2, page xxiii, 14
  17. ^ roughly 152 million Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh and 36.4 million Bengali Muslims in the Republic of India (CIA Factbook 2014 estimates, numbers subject to rapid population growth); about 10 million Bangladeshis in the Middle East, 1 million Bengalis in Pakistan, 5 million British Bangladeshi.
  18. ^ Iqbal, Sir Muhammad; Zakaria, Rafiq (1981), Shikwa and Jawab-i-shikwa (in English and Urdu), translated by Singh, Khushwant, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-561324-7, "Iqbal it is true, is essentially a poet of Islam" (from the foreword by Rafiq Zakaria, p. 9)
  19. ^ Justice Dr. Nasim Hasan Shah, "Role of Iqbal in the creation of Pakistan" in The All-Pakistan Legal Decisions, Volume 35, Part 1, 1983, p. 208
  20. ^ Lelyveld, David (2004), "Muhammad Iqbal", in Martin, Richard C. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World: A-L, Macmillan, p. 356, ISBN 978-0-02-865604-5, Muhammad Iqbal, South Asian poet and ideological innovator, wrote poetry in Urdu and Persian and discursive prose, primarily in English, of particular significance in the formulation of a national ethos for Pakistan.
  21. ^ Schimmel 1963, p. 37: Iqbal's mother-tongue was Panjabi, and even in his later poetry now and then a Panjabi-inspired expression occurs.
  22. ^ Jalal, Ayesha (4 January 2002). Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam Since 1850. Routledge. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-134-59937-0. A Muslim, an Indian and a Punjabi of Kashmiri ancestry, all at the same time, Iqbal's own individuality and sense of community was shaped in equal measure by these multiple affiliations.
  23. ^ Sevea, Iqbal Singh (2012). The Political Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal: Islam and Nationalism in Late Colonial India. Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-139-53639-4.
  24. ^ Ahmad, Faid; Khān, Muhammad Fāḍil (1998). Mihr-e-munīr: Biography of Ḥaḍrat Syed Pīr Meher Alī Shāh ( in English) – via GoogleBooks website.
  25. ^ Chaudhary, M. Azam. "Barrī Imām". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
  26. ^ Nizami, K.A., "Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd "Gand̲j̲-I-S̲h̲akar"", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs.
  27. ^ Gilmartin, David (1988). Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan. University of California Press. pp. 40–41.
  28. ^ Macauliffe, Max Arthur (2004) [1909]. The Sikh Religion – Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors. India: Low Price Publications. ISBN 81-86142-31-2.
  29. ^ Singh, Khushwant (2006). The Illustrated History of the Sikhs. India: Oxford University Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-19-567747-1.
  30. ^ Malik, Iftikhar Haider (2008). The History of Pakistan. Greenwood Publishing Group.
  31. ^ "Katas Raj Temples". Temple Darshan. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  32. ^ "Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List (Pakistan)". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016.


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