I had always thought minorities get a raw deal especially in Muslim countries and hence they are usually converted into the local religion or killed or forced to emigrate.
I got into discussion with a friend who said I was completely wrong. As an example she told me that the treatment of Hindus in Pakistan was fine considering that Pakistan is primarily an Islamic country.
I was shocked by this assertion. So we decided that I will look up some statistics about minority population growth / decline in Pakistan over a decade or few decades. If there was a substantial decline it might indicate that minorities weren't treated well.
So I started googling.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Pakistan
The above provides a historical perspective and a prediction about the future.
From the same link the population of Hindus in Pakistan is 3,231,220 million (2011) which is 2.12% of the Pakistani population.
According to Pew Research, the Hindu population will reach 5.6 million and Hindus will constitute 2.47% of the Pakistan population by 2050.However, Hindus in Pakistan feel that they are treated as second-class citizens and many have continued to migrate to India. Hindus comprised 15% of Pakistan's population in the year 1947 while Sikhs comprised 5% of the total population. After Pakistan gained independence from British India on 14 August 1947, 4.7 million of West Pakistan's Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while 6.5 million Muslims moved from India to live in West Pakistan.
The above provides a historical perspective and a prediction about the future.
From the same link the population of Hindus in Pakistan is 3,231,220 million (2011) which is 2.12% of the Pakistani population.
Next we come to the Hindu population in 1998 which is given to be 2.443 million. And we look here to look at the overall population of Pakistan in the same year 1998 - we get a value of 132.3 million from the graph
The Hindu population in 1998 as a percentage of overall Pakistan population is 2.442/132.3 = 1.8%.
Thus the Hindu population percentage in Pakistan seems to have gone up from 1.8% in 1998 to 2.12% in 2011. (Incidentally the Hindu population was 15% of Pak population in 1947. There was a good amount of migration of and carnage of the minorities on both sides of the border).
Assuming the statistics are reliable, I guess my friend was right. Hindu population has increased as a percentage of overall population in Pakistan from 1998 till 2011.
As on Aug 5, 2020
I read an article in New York Times which threw more light on this topic. The New York Times: Poor and Desperate, Pakistani Hindus Accept Islam to Get By.
So, yes the percentage of Hindus is largely same from 1980 till now. Between considering 1947 as the base, the story is different. Well what one can expect from a nation that is thrilled primarily about its religion and has little else to talk about.
Additional reading
As on Aug 5, 2020
I read an article in New York Times which threw more light on this topic. The New York Times: Poor and Desperate, Pakistani Hindus Accept Islam to Get By.
"At independence in 1947, Hindus composed 20.5 percent of the population of the areas that now form Pakistan. In the following decades, the percentage shrank rapidly, and by 1998 — the last government census to classify people by religion — Hindus were just 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s population. Most estimates say it has further dwindled in the past two decades."
So, yes the percentage of Hindus is largely same from 1980 till now. Between considering 1947 as the base, the story is different. Well what one can expect from a nation that is thrilled primarily about its religion and has little else to talk about.
Additional reading
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