• Official estimates classify only 39pc of population as urban
• Discrepancy arises from reliance on administrative boundaries over population density, settlement patterns

ISLAMABAD: An analysis of a World Bank policy research working paper reveals that Pakistan’s true level of urbanisation is close to 88 per cent, based on satellite imagery and the Degree of Urbanisation methodology.

According to the working paper titled “When Does a Village Become a Town?: Revisiting Pakistan’s Urbanisation Using Satellite Data”, the substantial discrepancy arises from Pakistan’s reliance on administrative boundaries that fail to reflect actual population density or settlement patterns.

The analysis finds that Pakistan’s urban population is nearly twice the size reported in official statistics, as the administrative definition accounts only for the largest cities. Based on the DoU classification, 88pc of........

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