Low wages, limited services and high costs of private education are promoting Pakistani abroad, with 2,894,645 people who leave the country in the last three years until September 15, according to the Emigrant Protectorate. The emigrants paid RS2.66 billion in protectorate rates.
Emigrants include professionals such as doctors, engineers, IT specialists, teachers, bankers, counters, auditors, designers and architects, as well as workers qualified as plumbers, drivers and welders. Women form a significant part of those who leave.
Read: The list of asylum seekers of the Pakistanis in the United Kingdom in 2024
The data of the Office of Emigration and Employment abroad show that Punjab has the largest number of emigrants from 1981 to August 2025 with 7,245,052, followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) (3,575,954), Sindh (1,281,495) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Ajk) (813) (813).
The areas of the North and Baluchistan had the lowest numbers at 30,776 and 813,526, respectively.
The total number of emigrants since 1981 has reached 13,885,816.
A report by the Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Migration Organization (IIM) indicates that 40% of Pakistanis express the desire to leave the country.
Illegal migration to Europe increased 280% in the first ten months of 2022, with almost 8,800 Pakistanis by illegally entering Europe at the end of 2023, often traveling through Dubai, Egypt and Libya.
The interest of emigration is higher in Baluchistan, Ajk and Gilgit-Baltistan and is more pronounced in cities than in rural areas.
Read more: Almost 40% of Pakistani want to leave the country
Economic challenges, political instability, unemployment, high inflation, limited educational opportunities and terrorism are cited as the main drivers. Experts warn about a growing trend in risky migration in the last two years.
