KARACHI: The completion of the census exercise in Karachi has led to fresh disputes as data shows a dip of 15% in the city’s population compared to the tally six years ago. The exercise, which was supposed to be completed on Monday, was extended for a second time as enumerators were still scrambling to reach many households.
Interestingly, none of Karachi’s seven districts registered an increase in population during the last five years.
According to data available with MM News, the recorded population of Karachi stands at 13,471,136, which is 15.94% less than the number recorded after 89.93% of the 2017 census was completed.
Karachi East was the biggest district in terms of decline in the population with 25%, while Keamari registered a decline of 17%, Central 11.84%, West 9.68%, and Malir 6.61%.
Despite the completion of almost 90% of the exercise, the chief census commissioner of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said that the data shouldn’t be relied upon to estimate the final count. These disputes have led to the exercise being repeated within six years, which may have financial implications for the government. So far, more than 2.64 million households have been counted in the city, making the completion of 89.93% of the exercise
