Ethnic groups in Pakistan
overview of the ethnic groups of Pakistan

Pakistan is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country. The major Pakistani ethnolinguistic groups include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Hindkowans, Baloch, Brahuis. as well as Shinas, Baltis, Kashmiris, Paharis, Kho, Indus Kohistanis, Torwalis, Gawris, Hazaras, Burusho, Wakhis, Kalash, Siddis, Meos, Nuristanis, Pamiris and various other smaller minorities.
Refugees
Pakistan's census does not include the 1.4 million citizens of Afghanistan who are temporarily residing in Pakistan. The majority of them were born in Pakistan within the last four decades and mostly belong to the Pashtun ethnic group. They also include Tajiks, Uzbeks and others.
Major ethnic groups
Following ethnic groups have a population of at least 1 million as per the 2023 national census.
Punjabis
Punjabis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Punjab region between India and Pakistan. They are the largest ethnic group of Pakistan. Punjabi Muslims are the third-largest Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in the world, globally, after Arabs and Bengalis.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ethnic groups in Pakistan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.