Demographic Evolution of Pakistanis in America Case Study of A Muslim Subgroup

Abstract

According to the last head count in 1981 the total population of
Pakistan was 83.782 millions. In addition, “there are two million
overseas Pakistanis, more than one million left behind families and half
a million returnee migrants.” Let us assume that out of the 1.5 million
Pakistanis who are working abroad at agiven time, 33.3 percent have an
average of three dependents with them overseas. This brings the total
number of persons of Pakistani origin and their offspring abroad to
three million.
It is estimated that over two-thirds of the working Pakistanis abroad
are in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, UAE, Libya, Kuwait
and Iraq. The rest of the total are working all over the world. After the
Middle East, their largest concentration points are England, the U.S.A.,
Canada and Germany. Among the other countries with relatively
smaller-but significant numbers-of persons of Pakistani origin are
Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Denmark, Singapore, Nigeria, Kenya, Hong
Kong and Malaysia.
Today Pakistan is one of the leading countries in exporting its
manpower to the rest of the world. It is not an exaggeration of facts to say
that the foreign exchange sent home by the overseas Pakistanis is
keeping Pakistan afloat economically in these uncertain times. In 1983,
close to three billion dollars were sent by overseas Pakistanis to their
country. This is, again, one of the largest amounts sent by workers ...