In Balochistan province of Pakistan, there will be more Chinese nationals compared to Baloch natives by the year 2048.
According to a report in ‘Dawn’, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) released a report on Wednesday that says that given the current rate of influx of Chinese nationals into Balochistan, they will outnumber the native population of the area by the time the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is completed in 2048.
The FPCCI report points out that Balochistan attracts people to settle in the province because of two important reasons.
First, Gwadar is the ultimate destination of the CPEC and second, Balochistan is the least-populated province of Pakistan with rich natural resources.
The report adds that since CPEC will facilitate the people to travel and settle in the province, the ethnic patterns of population distribution will be affected by the inflow of people from China and other parts of Pakistan.
The report points out that conservatively 0.44 persons per thousand migrate from china because of economic reasons that corroborates the inflow of more than 600,000 people per year in Pakistan after operating the CPEC.
At present Balochis are 55 per cent of the total population of Balochistan and the current growth rate of Balochistan’s population is 2.36 per cent.
The report says that the stimulation results based on the existing rate of migration from China at 0.44 persons per thousand and rate of population growth at 0.43 per cent suggest that the share of Chinese in Balochistan’s population is destined to increase with the completion of the CPEC.
“We have projected the trends of population on the basis of existing rate of population in Balochistan province, mainland China and entire Pakistan as per the result the Pakistani origin people will remain in majority in Balochistan up to 2048,” the report said.
