Number of medical, educational facilities painfully low in country, Digital Economic Survey

ISLAMABAD (Mudassar Ali Rana) – The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has announced the results of the country's first-ever digital economic census. According to the census, there are 7.143 million businesses across the country employing a workforce of 25.344 million people. The data revealed that the number of medical and educational institutions in the country is extremely low.

Nationwide, there are only 120,000 hospitals, 242,616 schools, 11,568 colleges, 214 universities, and 36,331 religious seminaries. The total number of mosques stands at 600,403, while there are 256,000 hotels. On average, there is just one hospital available for every 2,083 people, which is significantly inadequate for Pakistan's population of 250 million.

The economic census highlighted that the number of hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries is critically insufficient for the current population. Within the wholesale and retail sector alone, 2.9 million businesses were recorded, including 2.7 million retail shops, 188,000 wholesale shops, 825,000 service shops, 23,000 factories, and 643,000 production units. There are over 16,565 hostels, 19,645 banks, 4,387 police stations, 10,452 semi-government organizations, and 29,836 government institutions.

The data showed that 14.15 percent of the population is engaged in the social sector, 24.8 percent in the production sector, 57.86 percent in services, and 3 percent in other sectors. In Punjab, there are 123,000 schools, 6,635 colleges, 91 universities, and 16,117 seminaries. Punjab, with a population of 128 million, has 64,821 hospitals. In Sindh, there are 57,602 schools, 1,765 colleges, 43 universities, 5,630 seminaries, and 27,000 hospitals. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 45,318 schools, 2,356 colleges, 46 universities, 11,182 seminaries, and 20,034 hospitals.

Balochistan has 14,228 schools, 486 colleges, 12 universities, 3,138 seminaries, and 5,911 hospitals. Islamabad has 2,392 schools, 326 colleges, 22 universities, 264 seminaries, and 2,014 hospitals.

Across the country, there are over 38.31 million building structures, including residential, economic activity-related, huts, tents, and under-construction buildings. These include over 30.4 million residential buildings, 5.15 million economic activity buildings, 1.16 million mixed-use (residential and economic) buildings, 73,400 residential multi-storey apartments, 7,600 multi-storey commercial buildings, 53,000 informal dwellings (huts/tents), and approximately 93,000 under-construction buildings.

Punjab has 4.36 million businesses employing over 13.6 million people. Sindh has 1.38 million businesses employing over 5.713 million individuals. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has over one million businesses employing more than 3.981 million people. Balochistan has over 300,000 businesses with over 1.382 million people employed, while Islamabad has 86,000 businesses providing employment to over 621,000 people.

The economic census revealed that out of the 7.143 million businesses, 6.821 million employ fewer than ten people. Additionally, 322,000 businesses employ between 10 and 250 people. Among these, 71.504 million businesses have up to 50 employees, while only 7,086 businesses have up to 250 employees.

Within home-based economic activities, 419,000 people are engaged in clothing stitching, 8,000 in carpet manufacturing, 148,000 in embroidery and tailoring, 23,500 in food packaging, 61,000 run tuition centers, 144,000 are involved in poultry farming, 5.6 million people rear livestock, 46,000 operate beauty parlors, 93,000 offer online services, and a total of 4.4 million people are involved in small-scale food production and related businesses. Overall, 10.9 million individuals are engaged in home-based economic activities.

According to the census, among the 7.143 million businesses, 2.232 million are related to agriculture, forestry, and fishing; 5,600 in mining; 3.175 million in manufacturing; 39,284 in construction; 7.444 million in wholesale and retail; 416,000 in transport and storage; 284,000 in information and communication; 192,000 in real estate activities; 5.138 million in education; and approximately 2.585 million in other service sectors.

On the occasion of the census launch, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal stated that this data will enable future planning of Pakistan's agricultural sector. He noted that neighboring countries have conducted up to seven economic censuses so far. He emphasized that the future belongs to artificial intelligence and that data is the fuel for the digital economy. He also mentioned that SUPARCO provided assistance in conducting this economic census.

He pointed out that out of 40 million households in Pakistan, 10 million are actively engaged in economic activities. Micro-businesses are on the rise in the country, and many women are running businesses from home. He stressed that economic statistics will help develop economic plans based on scientific methods.

The minister also remarked that the census would play a crucial role in empowering women economically. It would enable time and resource-efficient decision-making in the agricultural and rural economy. He concluded by saying that no country can progress without policy-making based on solid data and evidence. The economic census is an opportunity to bring the informal economy into the mainstream and will serve as a vital tool for Pakistan’s economic self-reliance, investment growth, and employment generation.