Islamabad: An entrepreneur-statistician has launched an initiative to present existing information on Pakistan, a country with a complex political and ethnic milieu, in a concise and revealing way so that the world can understand its people, problems and potential.
Shehryar Hydri, who heads Trango Interactive, has launched the "100 Pakistanis" initiative, which is his version of "What if the world were 100 people". The move is aimed at simplifying things by assuming that Pakistan comprised just 100 people.
"I`m sure most of us have received emails about `What if the world were 100 people!` or seen some related presentations or documents. My effort is nothing original, it`s just a modest localised attempt at presenting the same questions with Pakistani answers," reads Hydri`s introductory note.
"We`ve had to average most of the percentages since there is a range of figures quoted by different sources... Our aim is to simply, give a broad but realistic idea of the issues at hand," he added.
According to Hydri, if Pakistan were 100 people, each person would symbolise 1.73 million people. "49 would be women and girls, 51 would be men and boys, 38 would be children under 15. Fifty-eight would be adults between 15-60 years and four would be 60 and older.”
The median age would be just 21 years! Average life expectancy would be 64 years," reads an entry on Hydri`s new website. "Thirty-six (Pakistanis) would be living in cities, 59 would live in villages. Four would be settled outside Pakistan, one would be a refugee from Afghanistan. Fifty-four would be in Punjab, 22 would be in Sindh, 15 would be in NWFP and FATA, five would be in Balochistan, two in Azad Kashmir, one in the Northern Areas," reads the demographic break-up.
As their first language, 44 Pakistanis would speak Punjabi, 15 Pashto, 14 Sindhi, 10 Saraiki, eight Urdu, four Balochi and 10 English as a second language.
Of the 100 people, 96 would be Muslims, four would be Christians, Hindus and from other religions.
Only half the population would be literate, 18 girls and women would be able to read and write, 31 would not, 29 boys and men would be able to read and write, 22 would not, reads the post by Hydri.
For a country where 76 people earn less than Rs 160 a day, it is interesting that 50 own mobile phones. Fifty people also have access to a TV, while only 12 out of the 100 have Internet access.
Comments have been piling up at the simplification of the data by Hydri.
"The amazing stat for me is that half of the population now owns a mobile phone where as only 3 percent have land lines. This is a giant leap of technology in the past 10 plus years," goes a comment on the post.
Another interactor wanted to know if there were no Talibans in the 100-list after reading that each year, two people will be added to the Pakistani population, which would
mean four new cities the size of Islamabad.
Bureau Report
