Karachi Matters Editor
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has released a report on the country’s native languages. Punjabi is the most widely spoken mother tongue, with 88.9 million speakers, followed by Pashto (43.6 million), Sindhi (34.4 million), Saraiki (28.8 million), and Urdu (22.2 million). Additionally, Balochi is spoken by 8.1 million people, while Kashmiri is the native language of 274,000 individuals.
- Punjabi: Mother tongue of 88.9 million people
- Pashto: Spoken by 43.6 million as a first language
- Sindhi: Native language of 34.4 million individuals
- Saraiki: First language for 28.8 million people
- Urdu: Over 22.2 million speak it natively
- Balochi: Native tongue of 8.1 million people
- Kashmiri: Spoken as a mother tongue by 274,000 individuals
