Since independence, four population censuses have been conducted: in 1951, 1961, 1972, and 1981. The new census was due in 1991 but due to political forces it could not be executed. The data provided by previous censuses do not present a consistent trend. The Planning Commission indicated under-enumeration of population in the 1961 census by 7.5 percent. Usually male enumerators are deputed to interview the respondents, male members of the household in most cases. This may give rise to an issue of invisibility of females in the census data, especially in the productive sector. Female family members are usually less reported due to a social desirability factor. Their participation in the productive sector is also ignored. All the enumerators of the census, as well as the supervisory officials, were government employees who, as a matter of routine, were not very careful about the validity of the censuses. Supervision has also been ineffective and manipulation of the census data has been a common practice. Keeping in view all these facts, reliability of all these censuses can be questioned.

The NIPS projections (1995) for the district’s population show an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent which is the same as it was in the inter-censal period 1972-81. The increase in the population density has been changing since the first census after the partition.

The population growth rates for the district have been inconsistent right from the initial censuses. During the inter-censal period 1951-61, the annual population growth rate was 4.8 percent, which increased to 5.3 percent in the next 11 years (1961-72). The population growth rate during 1972-81 period reduced to a half of the previous growth rate, i.e., 2.6 percent, which remained, unchanged in the next 1981-95 period. This trend indicates an exaggerated over-enumeration of population in the 1961-72 period or under-enumeration in the 1972-81 period, either erroneously or intentionally under some vested interests. The recent growth rate of the population, which has been calculated on the basis of projections of population for 1995, made by NIPS, is lower than that of Pakistan (3.1%). In 1981, total fertility rate in the district was 8.5. It further confuses the issue since, if the total fertility rate of the district is higher than that of Pakistan, how come the annual growth rate can hardly be lesser than the country’s one. This fluctuating growth trend cannot completely be explained.

According to 1981 census, the female population in the district remained lower than that of the males except for the ages 20-44 years (the reproductive age). This trend is quite contrary to the other districts, where male outnumber the females of reproductive age. One probable reason may be the high out-migration of the young male family members to the Gulf states for employment. This also points towards high mortality of females in infant or adolescence age. However, final conclusions can only be drawn after availability of birth and death rates at the district level.

In 1981, about one third (37.0%) of the total population was eligible to vote (21 years of age and above) while the adult population (18 years of age and above) was 42.6 percent. Women of the child bearing age (15-49 years) constituted 18.5 percent of the total population. The population of 15 years and above was 53,264 out of which 24.0 percent were never married. The currently married were 68.0 percent. The divorcees and widowers were 0.8 and 7.4 percent respectively. Mean age at marriage for females in Gwadar district was 20.3 years.

The average household size in the district, according to 1980 housing census, is 6.3 which is smaller than that of Pakistan and the province. The employment of the adult male family members in Gulf states may have resulted in a relatively smaller household size.

According to the 1981 census, the majority (55.2%) of the population in the district is dependent, either below the age of 15 or above 65 years of age. The youth dependency ratio is 117.3 percent while the old age dependency ratio is 5.7 percent. An overall dependency ratio of 123.0 percent is a significant burden on the earning population. This situation increases the economic pressure for the families which may result in child labour and malnutrition of both the women and children, usually the neglected strata of the society.

The definition of urban area has been changing in different censuses. In 1972, urban areas included municipal corporations, municipal committees, cantonment boards, and town committees. Other places having a concentration of population of at least 5,000 persons in continuous collection of houses where the community sense was well developed and the community maintained public utilities, such as roads, street lighting, water supply, sanitary arrangements, etc., were also treated as urban areas. These places were generally centres of trade and commerce with a population mostly non-agricultural and with a comparatively higher literacy rate. As a special case, a few areas having the above urban characteristics but with a population less than 5,000 persons were also treated as urban. The 1981 census defined the urban locality on the basis of type of local government institutions. All the localities which were either metropolitan corporation, municipal corporation, municipal committee, town committee or cantonment at the time of census, were treated as urban. The definition of urban areas in 1961 census is not given in the census reports. This variation and unavailability of the definition of urban area has made the comparative analysis a difficult task.

According to 1981 census, more the one third (38.5%) of the population of Gwadar district is urban, mainly located in Gwadar and Pasni municipal committee areas and Ormara town committee area. The highest of the urban population ratio can be observed at the time of 1972 census (40.6%), a slight increase after 1961 census when a sudden rise from 15.2 percent was observed in 1951. This unprecedented change in proportion of urban population can only be defined in terms of change of definition.

Most of the human settlements are alongside the coast of Arabian Sea as fisheries is the main economic activity. The towns of Gwadar, Pasni, Ormara, and Jiwani have a long history of human settlements. Other remarkable localities are Pishukan, Sur Bandar, Gabd, Suntsar, Kappar, Gunz, Tank, Nokhbur, Shinzani, Chur, Rambra, Gursunt, Makola, Jafri, Had, and Kulmir Sunt. According to the 1981 census, there were 104 (excluding 2 un-inhabited) Mauzas/villages. The individual population of only 2 Mauzas was above 5,000 while 88 had a population of less than 1,000. The rest of the district is rather sparsely populated. See e.g. the map of the distribution of schools in chapter 7.3, which reflects the spatial distribution of the population.

The Balochs constitute an overwhelming proportion (about 98%) of the population in the district while the remaining part include Punjabis, Sindhis, Pushtuns, Brahvis, and others. Balochi is the language spoken in almost all the homes in the district. However this Balochi is a different dialect from that spoken in Dera Bugti and Kohlu. Balochi spoken in Gwadar has relatively less Persian words than the Balochi spoken in Panjgur and Kech. It has great variation as far as accent is concerned. Accent varies from village to village, even located in close vicinity of each other. Urdu is the second major language for communication in the area, specially because of people’s links to Karachi.

The vast majority of the fishermen, who operate small fishing boats cannot carry out fishing in summer months because the sea is very rough. These fishermen migrate to other areas in search of work. Most of them go to Karachi and some to other areas of Makran. Information about the extent of this migration is not available.

The largest number of overseas migrants from Makran division belong to Gwadar district. A substantial number of men are working in the Oman army and in other Gulf states. Compared to other districts of Makran, more persons from Gwadar possess Omani nationality. According to the census of 1981, 2,775 persons of the district went abroad between 1971 and 1981.

Because of regular pattern of international migration, Gwadar district remained chronically an area of labour scarcity in different sectors. Therefore, demand for labour from other areas continued unabated. According to the census of 1981 total number of in-migrants was 1,459. It is estimated that about 70 percent of the labour in construction and service sector belong to other provinces. In Gwadar town all restaurants and hotels are managed and operated by Bengalis. Participation of Afghan refugees in the labour force is negligible.