In our article, ‘How Urban is Pakistan’ published in 1999iii,
we analyzed the
preliminary results of the 1998 census, particularly regarding urban population. We
noted that city populations were higher than what official data was prepared to
reflect, pointing to the issue of definition, specially the change introduced in the 1981
census and the use of administrative boundaries that contributed to the ‘underestimation’
of the urban population in the census (Box 1). In a later version published
as ‘Underestimating Urbanization’
iv, after the final results of the census had been
released, we noted that leading Pakistani demographers and social scientists had
commented and raised questions on the apparently low urban population reported in
the 1998 census, considering it inconsistent with trends and evidence-based
research. They argued that the urban population as a percentage of total population
could not be less than 40 percent and could be up to 50 per cent. (See Box 2 on the
implications of the changed census definition of ‘urban’). Here, we take-up the
subject again.