Half Of Pakistan Doesn’t Work: The Growing Weight Of Economic Dependence
Half of Pakistan does not work. Around 120 million people live as dependents, many tied to mosques, madrasas, shrines, or begging, a hidden economic burden rarely acknowledged in official statistics. Absurd as it may sound, the 2023 economic census lays out the numbers clearly.
According to this census, the country has around 604,000 mosques but barely 23,000 factories. The contrast speaks for itself: organisational energy and financial resources are overwhelmingly tied to religious institutions rather than economic production. This is one of the dependency aspects that exists in the country. There are many more.
The Scale of Dependence
If we assume two paid staff per mosque (imam and muezzin), mosques alone employ 1.2 million people. Madrasas add another layer: Pakistan hosts an estimated 36,000 seminaries, each employing an average of five staff, bringing in 180,000 employees. Shrines, numbering roughly 55,000 across the country, typically support two to three workers each, adding another 165,000 employees. That’s more than the population of Balochistan. These roles indeed provide social and spiritual services, but they do not generate transferable skills or scalable economic output in the way that industry, agriculture, or technology can.
Mosques and shrines rarely maintain formal accounts, and madrasas operate largely outside financial transparency. While a few are registered, most rely on undocumented donations and often resist regulation. For analytical purposes, such employment can only be treated as dependent and non-productive.
Some may argue the same about education teachers, like madrasa instructors, who do not produce goods. But the comparison ends there. Teachers equip future doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers, directly feeding into the economy. By contrast, religious employment structures create neither........
© The Friday Times
