Since independence, four population censuses have been conducted: in 1951, 1961, 1972, and 1981. The new census was due in 1991, but as a result of political reservation of the provinces and other political forces it could not be executed. The data provided by previous censuses does 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 way of proceeding may cause underreporting of women and girls, especially in figures on the productive sector. Female family members are usually less reported due to the social desirability factor. Their participation in the productive sector is also ignored. All the enumerators of 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 making up census data has been a common practice. Keeping in view all these facts, reliability of all these censuses can be questioned.

NIPS has made a projection of the population of Musakhel 1995. The population in that year is estimated to be 218,156. The projected population of Musakhel in 1995 shows an annual growth rate (period 1981 to 1995) of 6.4 percent as compared to 10.0 percent for the inter-census period 1972-81.

The population growth rates for Musakhel district have been inconsistent right from the initial censuses. During the inter-census period 1951-61 a reasonable growth pattern of 1.8% was observed. In the next 11 years (1961-72) this rate increases to 4.3 percent. The population growth rate during 1972-81 has been 10.0 percent which is more than double the previous growth rate (4.3%). This indicates an exaggerated over-enumeration of population, either erroneously or intentionally under some vested interests. The projection for the district’s population for 1995 is not compatible with the total number of voters (62,356) in 1995. The recent rate of growth (6.4%), which has been calculated on the basis of projections of population for 1995, is more than double of Pakistan’s population growth rate (3.1%). In 1981, total fertility rate in the district was 7.2. It explains, to some extent, the high growth rate for the district, but the highly fluctuating growth trend cannot completely be explained.

According to the 1981 census, the female population in the age group of 0-4 outnumbers the male population, but after the age of 5 this equation inverses and the male population becomes bigger than the female one up to the age of 30. It supports the assumption that poor health care strikes girls more harshly than boys. The other 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. This way women become less visible in the population statistics. However, final conclusions can only be drawn after availability of age and sex specific birth and death rates at the district level.

In 1981, about two fifths (42.2%) of the total population was eligible to vote (21 years of age and above), while adult population (18 years of age and above) was 48.8 percent. Women of child bearing age (15-49 years) were 19.9 percent. The married population constituted 68.4 percent of the population of 15 years and above (which itself is 54.7 of the total population) while 27.1 percent of this population were never married. The percentage of divorcees and widowers constituted 0.2 and 4.3 percent respectively. The average age at marriage for females in Musakhel district was 20.6 years which confirms the high total fertility rate in Musakhel.

The average household size in the district, according to 1980 housing census, is 8.4. One reason for this relatively high figure may be the high total fertility rate (7.2 in 1981).

According to the 1981 census, about half (49.6%) of the population in the district is dependent, either below the age of 15 or 65 years of age and above. However keeping in view the assumed under-enumeration of young female children, the youth dependency ratio can be higher than the given one. 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 groups of society.

The definition of an 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 a 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 having a comparatively higher literacy rate. As a special case, a few areas having the above urban characteristics but population less than 5,000 persons, were also treated as urban. The 1981 census defined the urban areas on the basis of type of local government institutions. All the localities which had either a metropolitan corporation, municipal corporation, municipal committee, town committee or a cantonment at the time of census, were treated as urban. The definition of urban areas in the 1961 census is not given in the census reports. This unavailability of a common definition of urban area has made the comparative analysis a difficult task.

According to the 1981 census, there is no area in Musakhel which could be designated as urban area. However, Musakhel town was designated as urban area in the 1961 and 1972 censuses. No significant inference can be drawn on the basis of these data.

The major human settlements of the district are Musakhel town, Kingri, Drug, Khajoori, Khan Muhammad Kot, Rarasham, Chasan, Anderpur, Rode, Loghai, Purmzai, Zawar Isot, Loghi Punga, Salli, Wah, Zam, and Zenha. Most of these settlements are alongside agricultural tracts. Administrative offices are located at Musakhel. Kingri is the second important locality. According to the 1981 census, there were 72 (excluding 5 uninhabited) mauzas/villages. The individual population of only one mauza was above 5,000 and of 16 mauzas between 2,000 and 4,999.

The Pushtuns constitute a significant majority (about 85%) of the population in the district. Other ethnic groups include Balochs and Punjabis. According to the 1981 census, Pushto is spoken in 85.1 percent of the households, followed by Balochi (7.8%) and then by Saraiki which is spoken in 1.6 percent of the homes. Other languages, including Jafri, Punjabi, Urdu, Sindi, and Brahvi, are spoken in 5.6 percent of the households. Although Jafars are ethnic Pashtoons, they speak a language of their own (Jafarki), which is a mixture of Pushto, Balochi, and Saraiki.

The majority of the population is permanently resident in villages. However, nomadic intra and inter district migration can also be found in Musakhel. It may also be called seasonal migration, as the livestock farming communities of the district migrate to less cold areas in winter. Presently no data are available on the extent of migration in Musakhel.

Back to Musakhel