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 reservation of the provinces and other political forces it could not be executed. The data provided by previous censuses do not present a consistent trend. The Planning Commission had 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 makes girls and women invisible in the census data, specially in the productive sector. Female family members are usually less reported due to social norms. 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 censuses. Supervision has also been ineffective and cooking of census data has been a common practice. Keeping in view all these facts, reliability of all these censuses is can be questioned.

The NIPS projections for the district’s population in March 1995 show an annual growth rate of 3.4 percent as compared with the growth rate 11.8 percent for the inter-censal period 1972-81 which is more than three times higher than the new one. This great fluctuation in growth rates also represents unreliability of census data.

The population growth rates for the district have been inconsistent right from the initial censuses. During the inter-censal period 1951-61 a significantly negative growth pattern (-1.2%) has been observed while in the next 11 years (1961-72) this rate increases to 6.5 percent. Even after the increase in population in 1961 by 7.5 percent, as indicated by the Planning Commission, the growth rate remains in minus (-1.0%).

The population growth rate during 1972-81 has been 11.8. This indicates an exaggerated over-enumeration of population. The NIPS projection for the district’s population in 1995 is not compatible with the total number of voters (172,973) in 1997. The recent rate of growth (3.4%), which has been calculated on the basis of projections of population for 1995, made by NIPS, is slightly higher than that of the Pakistan (3.1%). In 1981, total fertility rate in the district was 9.6. It explains, to some extent, high growth rate for the district but the highly fluctuating growth trend cannot completely be explained.

According to 1981 census, the male population in Kech district outnumbers the female population throughout the population pyramid, except for the age group 35-40 years. One probable reason may be that young girls are often not reported at the time of census as people consider it against the code of honour to tell the names of or details about their young female family members to strangers or enumerators. In this way women become less visible in the population. It is evinced by a significant gap between number of males and females of young age group (5-19 years). Another reason could be malnourishment and neglect of girls. However, final conclusions can only be drawn after availability of age and gender specific birth and death rates at the district level.

In 1981, about one third (34.2%) of the total population was eligible to vote (21 years of age and above) while adult population (18 years of age and above) was 40.3 percent. Women of the child bearing age (15-49 years) were 38.4 percent of the female population. Married population constituted 63.1 percent of the population of 15 years and above while 30.4 percent of this population was never married. Divorcees and widowers constituted 1.0 and 5.6 percent respectively. Mean age at marriage for females in Kech district was 21.3 years.

The average household size in the district, according to 1980 housing census, is 8.2 which shows an increasing trend in retrospect of the previous censuses. One reason for this trend may be the high total fertility rate (9.6 in 1981) which surely can result in a larger household size. The employment of male family members in Gulf states has also necessitated the joint family system which in turn results in a large household.

According to the 1981 census, the majority (55.9%) of the population in the district is dependent, either below the age of 15 or 65 years of age and above. The youth dependency ratio is 121.8 percent while the old age dependency ratio is 4.7 percent. An overall dependency ratio of 126.5 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 women and children; the most 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 had 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 comparative analysis difficult.

According to 1981 census, only 13.8 percent of the population is urban. Only the municipal area of Turbat is designated as urban. The highest of the urban population ratio can be observed at the time of 1972 census (18.7%), a sudden rise from 6.5 percent in 1961. In 1981, percentage of urban population decreased to 13.8 percent. This unprecedented change in proportion of urban population can only be defined in terms of change of definition.

In Kech, the human settlements are spread throughout the district. However, most of them are alongside the irrigated agricultural lands. Turbat town is the only urban area in Kech, while other important localities include Mand, Tump, Buleda, Balnigore, Nasirabad, Kalatuk, Pidarak, Hoshab, Niwano, and Menaz. In 1981, there were 343 (excluding 29 un-inhabited) mauzas/villages. The population of two individual mauzas was above 5,000 while 242 had a population less than 1,000. See chapter 7.3 for the spatial distribution of schools all over the district.

The Balochs constitute an overwhelming proportion (about 99%) of the population in the district while the remaining include Brahvis, Pushtuns, Sindhis, Punjabis, and others. Balochi is the language spoken in almost all the homes in the district. This is a different dialect however from that of being spoken in Dera Bugti and Kohlu. Balochi spoken in Panjgur and Kech has more Persian words than the Balochi spoken in other areas of Balochistan. 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, mainly because of people’s links to Karachi.

Intra-district migration is minimal in Kech. The majority of the population is permanently resident in its villages. Seasonal migration is observed in the area to some extent when livestock farming communities of the district migrate to the date producing areas in the date harvesting season, from July to October. The considerable immigration is of the people who are coming home from Gulf after completing their service tenure and those of skilled workers from other parts of the country. International out-migration is of potential workers to Gulf states.

According to the 1981 census, the total number of in-migrants was 2,385 (0.6% of the total population). They were 18.2 percent in rural areas and the remaining in urban area. The male and female in-migrants were 67.6 and 32.4 percent respectively. The persons who had migrated into the district during the last 5 years before 1981, i.e., after March 1976, were 43.8 percent, while 26.3 percent had migrated before 5 years but after March 1971. The remaining 29.5 percent had migrated 10 years earlier. During the last ten years 1,030 persons had gone abroad – 348 from urban and 682 from rural areas and were still residing there at the time of census..

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