FYI

Pakistan is suddenly a major subject in our evolving news and we really should understand much more about the nation.

Pakistan, By the Numbers

Few countries in the world embrace more people than Pakistan. Few have more powerful weapons on the shelf. No wonder the troubled nation makes such world news. So, before you see another ominous headline about "the instability in Pakistan," review these key stats--and put Pakistan squarely on your mental map.

Indus River Valley

310,403 – Pakistan's total area, in square miles (803,940 sq km). That makes it a little larger than Turkey and around twice the size of Iraq--or, about the size of California, Oregon, and Washington combined. Map it.

2,000 – Length of the Indus River, in miles (3,200 km). From its source on the Tibetan Plateau, the Indus fed the original Indus River Valley civilization of ancient India and still waters most of Pakistan's crops. It nearly runs the length of Pakistan before emptying into the Arabian Sea.

Very Crowded Country

165 million – Pakistan's total population. That makes it the world's sixth most populous nation, after China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. Pakistan has more people than Germany, France, and the Netherlands combined. But its people are more a patchwork of different ethnic groups than a unified nation. Map these ethnic groups.

97 – Percentage of Pakistan's people who are Muslims. Around 77 percent are Sunni; around 20 percent are Shi'ite. The three largest ethnic groups are Punjabis (44 percent of the population), Pashtuns (15 percent), and Sindhis (14 percent). The different ethnic groups speak their own languages at home. Lawyers and government officials--along with many businesses--use English as a common language.

Home of the "Islamic Bomb"

59 – Number of years since UN peacekeepers first began patrolling the disputed Kashmir region. Before that, Pakistan and India had already fought one war over Kashmir (from 1947 to 1949). They have since fought two more (in 1965 and 1971), along with intermittent skirmishes. Map Kashmir.

30 – Minimum number of nuclear weapons in Pakistan's arsenal. Pakistani sources say the nation was nuclear-capable by the late 1980s, thanks in large part to German-trained nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. A.Q. Khan has since become an international pariah by passing nuclear secrets to the likes of North Korea.

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Another good source of information on Pakistan is the CIA's Fact Book.

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