Karachi: The city under urban stress

Karachi is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in Pakistan and the capital of Sindh province. Located on the Arabian Sea, Karachi is also known as the "City of Lights" and "The Bride of the Cities." The 2016 population for the city is estimated to be 16.62 million.

In 2016, Karachi had an estimated population of more than 16 million people, which makes it the the 7th largest urban agglomeration and the largest city in the Muslim world.

Karachi Demographics

Karachi's rapid growth and massive migration mean nearly 5 million people, or 50% of the population, in 2000 lived in slums, a number that is believed to have grown.

Karachiites are made up of many ethno-linguistic groups from around Pakistan, along with South Asiamigrants. It is believed that about 90% of Karachi's population are migrants from many backgrounds.

By the time Pakistan gained independence in 1947, the population was mostly Sindhi and Baloch Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. Karachi has historically been home to a large number of Gujarati Muslims, who were very early settlers to the area and formed a majority in Saddar Town. Large Gujarati Muslim communities in Karachi are the Chhipa, Ghanchi, Memon, Khoja, Bohra, and Tai.

After the 1950s, most non-Muslims left Karachi for India, but there are still small communities of Anglo-Indians, Parsis, and Goan Catholics. Many Muslim Muhajirs came to Karachi after independence from India to escape anti-Muslim programs in the country. This is why Karachi today has many South Asians. Descendants of Muslim refugees who left India are called Muhajirs, and they form a huge group in the city. They include Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, Rajasthani, and Malabari Muslims. Muhajirs are the largest ethnic group, accounting for 50% of the population.

There are about 10 million Bengali and Biharis from Bangladesh as well. Karachi has 1-2 million ethnic Bengalis from Bangladesh, most of whom came during the 1980s and 1990s. There are also many Rohingya Muslim refugees from Burma and Asian refugees from Uganda. Many refugees from Iran and Central Asian countries have settled in Karachi, as well as a large number of Arabs, Filipinos and Sinhalese from Sri Lanka.

The second largest ethnic group are the Pashtuns, originally from Afghanistan and Balochistan, who have been in the city for decades. Karachi has the largest concentration of urban Pakhtun in the world, including 50,000 registered Afghan refugees, making up 25% of the city's population.

Urban Sprawl 

In 2016 UN Habitat participated in an study with New York University, Lincoln Institute of land Policy. The study found that in a space of 22 years, from 1991 to 2013, total built up area of Karachi grew from 18,057 hectares to 45,327 hectares, i.e. by a factor of 2.5. For the same period, size of built up area in Lahore increased from 11,518 hectares to 35,018 hectares i.e. by a factor of 3. Similarly, Sialkot expanded from a mere 2,038 hectares to 9,620 hectares, by a factor of 4.7. What is more impressive here is that, in a span of twenty-two years, Lahore and Karachi added a combined urban area of around 50 thousand hectares to their size. In other words, an area roughly five times larger than present day Sialkot city was added in Lahore and Karachi in the last two decades.