First economic census maps 7.2M businesses

August 22, 2025 (MLN): The government has launched its first-ever Economic Census, a milestone aimed at driving evidence-based planning and informed policymaking for sustainable growth.

The initiative, led by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, highlights the role of credible data as the backbone of economic development in the digital era.

The census, conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), mapped 40 million buildings nationwide, identifying 7.2m as economic establishments.

These include 2.7m retail businesses, 188,000 wholesale enterprises, 825,000 service shops, 23,000 factories, and 643,000 production units.

The data emphasized significant potential for business formalization, tax expansion and targeted investment, compared to the 250,000 companies currently registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

The exercise also captured household level economic activities, revealing nearly 10m households engaged in small scale enterprises such as tailoring, livestock, food preparation and retail trade.

Officials said the findings will help boost women’s economic inclusion and enhance employment opportunities in informal sectors.

The Economic Census further provides detailed insights into the country’s social and educational infrastructure, listing 242,000 schools, 36,000 madrassas, 11,568 colleges, 214 universities, 119,000 health facilities and over 600,000 places of worship.

Authorities said the data will support provincial governments in bridging service gaps, guiding transparent investments, and improving public accountability.

Officials emphasized that this initiative, following international best practices, integrates economic data collection with population census operations a strategy that saved the government an estimated Rs7bn while ensuring higher quality data.

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