A recent report by the Statistics Bureau sheds light on the linguistic diversity of Pakistan, detailing the number of speakers of various mother tongues across the country. The findings highlight the rich tapestry of languages that form an integral part of Pakistan’s cultural identity.
The Statistics Bureau has revealed that Punjabi is the mother tongue of 88.9 million people in Pakistan.
According to the report, Pashto is the mother tongue of 43.6 million people, Sindhi is spoken by 34.4 million, and Saraiki by 28.8 million individuals.
The report further states that Urdu is the mother tongue of over 22.2 million people, Balochi is spoken by 8.1 million, and Kashmiri by 274,000 individuals.
Additionally, 5.59 million people speak Hindko as their mother tongue, 2.78 million speak Brahui, 116,000 speak Shina, 52,134 speak Balti, and 7,466 people speak Kalasha.
Furthermore, Kohistani is the mother tongue of 1.03 million people, while 3.37 million people speak other regional languages.