The headline figure is unambiguous: more than 19 out of every 20 people in Pakistan are Muslim. But the census also tells a story of slow change. In 2017 the Muslim share stood at 96.47%; by 2023 it had eased to 96.35% — not because the Muslim population shrank (it grew by 31.3 million people), but because the Christian and Hindu populations grew at a slightly faster rate over the six years. The Ahmadi community, by contrast, recorded both a smaller population and a smaller share than in 2017.

For a fuller religion-by-religion analysis, see our detailed guide to Pakistan’s population by religion, which covers every group, province-level detail and the 2017 comparison.

Two facts stand out. Punjab holds the most Muslims by far — 124.5 million, more than half of all Muslims in Pakistan — while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the highest Muslim share at 99.62%. Sindh, at 90.09%, is the outlier: it is home to the great majority of Pakistan’s Hindus and has the country’s largest non-Muslim population by a wide margin.

Pakistan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and equal rights for all citizens regardless of faith, even as Islam holds the position of state religion. Read how that balance works in our guide to the Objective Resolution and the Constitution’s preamble.

The 1973 Constitution opens its treatment of religion with Article 2: “Islam shall be the State religion of Pakistan.” The Objectives Resolution of 1949 — adopted as the Constitution’s preamble and given substantive force through Article 2A — declares that sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Almighty Allah, and that the state shall exercise its powers through the chosen representatives of the people. In practice this means Pakistan’s laws must conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah (Articles 227–231), a requirement policed by institutions including the Council of Islamic Ideology and the Federal Shariat Court.

Alongside that Islamic character, the Constitution builds in protections for the 3.65% who are not Muslim. Article 20 guarantees every citizen the right to profess, practise and propagate their religion; Article 22 bars religious discrimination in education and taxation; Article 25 declares all citizens equal before the law; and Article 36 specifically safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of minorities. The Objectives Resolution itself promises that “adequate provision shall be made for the minorities freely to profess and practise their religions and develop their cultures.”

The balance is not always smooth in practice — debates over the blasphemy laws, the Ahmadi question settled by the Second Amendment, and the under-representation of minorities in the census all show the tension between an Islamic state and equal citizenship. But the constitutional framework is clear: Pakistan is a Muslim-majority state whose own founding document obliges it to protect its minorities. Read the full breakdown in our guide to the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 and the Objective Resolution explained.