Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and the Greater Middle East. It
has a 1046 kilometer coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south, and is
bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and the People's
Republic of China in the far northeast.[2]
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and is the second most
populous Muslim country.[3] Its territory was a part of pre-partition British
India, and has a long history of settlement and civilisation including the Indus
Valley Civilisation. Most of it was conquered in the 1st millennium BCE by
Persians and Greeks. Later arrivals include the Arabs, Afghans, Turks, and
Mongols. The territory was incorporated into the British Raj in the nineteenth
century. Since its independence, the country has experienced both periods of
significant military and economic growth, and periods of instability, with the
secession of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Pakistan is a declared
nuclear weapons state.
Provinces:
Balochistan
North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)
Punjab
Sindh
Pakistan has an estimated population of 165,803,560, as of April 2006.[37] Pakistan has the world's sixth largest population, placing it higher than Russia, and lower than Brazil. Because of Pakistan's high growth rate, it is expected to surpass Brazil in population in the year 2020. Population projections for Pakistan are relatively difficult because of the apparent differences in the accuracy of each census and the inconsistencies between various surveys related to the fertility rate, but it is likely that the rate of growth peaked in the 1980s and has since declined significantly.[38] The population was estimated at 162,400,000[39] on July 1, 2005, with a fertility rate of 34 per thousand, a death rate of 10 per thousand, and the rate of natural increase at 2.4%.