View source for Place:Karachi

{{Short description|Capital of Sindh, Pakistan}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Karachi
| native_name        = {{hlist|{{Small|{{Naskh|ڪراچي}}}}|{{lang|ur|{{Nastaliq|کراچی}}}}}}
| settlement_type    = Megacity
| image_skyline      = Karachi Pak collage.jpg
| image_size         = 
| image_caption      = '''Clockwise from top''': Mazar-e-Quaid; Hawke's Bay Beach; Frere Hall; Karachi Port Trust Building; Mohatta Palace; and Port of Karachi
| nickname           = City of the Quaid,{{sfn|Sarina Singh|2008|p=164}} [[Place:Paris|Paris]] of the [[Place:Eastern world|East]],<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ghosh |first1=Palash |title=Karachi, Pakistan: Troubled, Violent Metropolis Was Once Called 'Paris Of The East' |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/karachi-pakistan-troubled-violent-metropolis-was-once-called-paris-east-1396265 |access-date=8 January 2017 |work=International Business Times |date=22 August 2013 |quote=However, decades ago, Karachi was a very different place{{snd}}so different, in fact, that in 1942 the city charmed American soldiers enough they dubbed it the "Paris of the East". |archive-date=10 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210221838/http://www.ibtimes.com/karachi-pakistan-troubled-violent-metropolis-was-once-called-paris-east-1396265 |url-status=live }}</ref> City of Lights,<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> Bride of the Cities{{sfn|Hunt Janin|Scott A. Mandia|2012|p=98}}{{sfn|Sind Muslim College|1965}}
| official_name      = 
| imagesize          = 
| image_shield       = 
| image_flag         = 
| image_blank_emblem = 
| blank_emblem_type  = Emblem
| imageseal          = 
| pushpin_map        = Pakistan Karachi#Sindh#Pakistan#Asia#World
| pushpin_mapsize    = 250
| pushpin_map_caption = Map of the city of Karachi##Location within Sindh province##Location within Pakistan##Location within Asia
| coordinates        = {{coord|24|51|36|N|67|0|36|E|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = {{flag|Pakistan}}
| subdivision_type1  = Province
| subdivision_name1  = {{flag|Sindh}}
| subdivision_type2  = Division
| subdivision_name2  = Karachi Division
| established_title  = Settled
| established_date   = 1729
| established_title1 = Metropolitan council
| established_date1  = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1880}}
| seat_type          = City council
| seat               = City Complex, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town
| parts_type         = Districts<ref name="govt">{{cite web |url=http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=84 |title=District in Karachi |publisher=Karachi Metropolitan Corporation |access-date=6 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530194440/http://kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=84 |archive-date=30 May 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| parts_style        = coll
| parts              = 7
| p1                 = Central Karachi
| p2                 = East Karachi
| p3                 = South Karachi
| p4                 = West Karachi
| p5                 = Korangi
| p6                 = Malir
| p7                 = Kemari
| government_footnotes = <ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web |url=http://www.kmc.gos.pk/ |title=Government |publisher=Karachi Metropolitan Corporation |access-date=6 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209040750/http://kmc.gos.pk/ |archive-date=9 February 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| government_type    = Metropolitan Corporation
| governing_body     = Government of Karachi
| leader_title       = Mayor
| leader_name        = Murtaza Wahab<ref name=dawn>{{Cite web |author=Web Desk |date=15 June 2023 |title=Who is Murtaza Wahab? |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2421869/who-is-murtaza-wahab |access-date=15 June 2023 |website=The Express Tribune |archive-date=15 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615130407/https://tribune.com.pk/story/2421869/who-is-murtaza-wahab |url-status=live }}</ref>
| leader_party       = PPP
| leader_title1      = Deputy mayor
| leader_name1       = Salman Murad<ref name=dawn/><br />(PPP)
| leader_title2      = Commissioner
| leader_name2       = Salim Rajput<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1139018-all-means-to-be-utilised-to-ensure-fair-polls-sindh-election-commissioner |title=All means to be utilised to ensure fair polls: Sindh election commissioner |work=The News International (newspaper) |date=17 December 2023 |access-date=19 December 2023}}</ref>
| area_footnotes     = <ref name=area>{{cite web |url=http://www.kmc.gos.pk/contents.aspx?id=14 |title=Karachi Metropolitan Corporation |publisher=City District Government of Karachi |access-date=4 March 2022 |archive-date=23 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623150042/http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=14 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| area_metro_km2     = 3,527
| area_rank          = 1st
| elevation_footnotes = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://elevation.maplogs.com/poi/karachi_pakistan.451.html |title=Elevation of Karachi, Pakistan - Topographic Map - Altitude Map |access-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406234123/https://elevation.maplogs.com/poi/karachi_pakistan.451.html |archive-date=6 April 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| elevation_m        = 10
| population_as_of   = 2023 census
| population_metro   = 
| population_total   = 20,382,881
| population_footnotes = <ref name="2023 Census">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/Sindh.pdf |title=Announcement of Results of 7th Population and Housing Census-2023 (Sindh province) |date=5 August 2023 |website=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (www.pbs.gov.pk) |access-date=15 August 2023 |archive-date=15 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815150025/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/Sindh.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
| population_density_metro_km2 = 5,779
| population_rank    = 1st (Pakistan)<br/>12th (world)
| population_demonym = Karachiite<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/922612-karachiites-to-endure-another-powertariff-hike |title=Karachiites to endure another powertariff hike |date=5 January 2022 |access-date=5 January 2022 |work=The News International (newspaper) |archive-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105013402/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/922612-karachiites-to-endure-another-powertariff-hike |url-status=live }}</ref>
| population_note    = 
| postal_code_type   = Postal codes
| postal_code        = 74XXX&nbsp;–&nbsp;75XXX<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pakpost.gov.pk/postcodes.php |title=Postal Codes |access-date=19 December 2023 |website=Pakistan Post |archive-date=11 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230711104212/https://www.pakpost.gov.pk/postcodes.php}}</ref>
| area_code          = 021<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ptcl.com.pk/Info/National-Dialing-Codes |title=National Dialing Codes |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109145658/http://www.ptcl.com.pk/Info/National-Dialing-Codes |archive-date=9 November 2015 |url-status=dead |website=PTCL}}</ref>
| area_code_type     = Dialling code
| blank_name_sec2    = Largest district by area
| blank_info_sec2    = Malir (2,160 km<sup>2</sup>)
| blank1_name_sec2   = Largest district by population (2023 census)
| blank1_info_sec2   = Karachi East (3,950,031)
| blank2_name_sec2   = Densest district by population (2023 census)
| blank2_info_sec2   = Karachi Central (55,396/km<sup>2</sup>)
| blank3_name_sec2   = Largest area by [[Finance:GDP|GDP]] (2020)
| blank3_info_sec2   = Saddar Town ($40 billion)
| blank4_name_sec1   = International airport
| blank4_info_sec1   = Jinnah International (KHI)
| blank5_name_sec1   = Rapid transit system
| blank5_info_sec1   = Karachi Breeze
| blank_name_sec1    = [[Finance:Gross domestic product|GDP/PPP]]
| blank_info_sec1    = $200&nbsp;billion (2021)<ref name="nation.com.pk">{{Cite web |url=https://nation.com.pk/01-Sep-2020/karachi-the-backbone-of-pakistan?version=amp |title=Karachi: The backbone of Pakistan |date=September 2020 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200904191909/https://nation.com.pk/01-Sep-2020/karachi-the-backbone-of-pakistan?version=amp |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="finance.gov.pk">{{cite web |url=http://finance.gov.pk/ |title={{!}} Finance Division {{!}} Government of Pakistan {{!}} |access-date=4 April 2020 |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127164244/http://www.finance.gov.pk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| title              = 
| timezone           = [[Pakistan Standard Time|PKT]]
| utc_offset         = +05:00
| website            = {{URL|www.kmc.gos.pk/}}
}}

'''Karachi''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|'|r|ɑː|tʃ|i}}; {{lang-ur|{{Nastaliq|کراچی}}}}; {{Lang-sd|{{Small|{{Naskh|ڪراچي}}}}}}; {{IPA-hns|kəˈraːtʃi|IPA|Karachi pronunciation.ogg}}) is the capital city of the Pakistani province of Sindh. It is the largest city in {{wipe|Pakistan}} and the 12th largest in the world, with a population of over 20 million.<ref name="2023 Census" /><ref>{{Cite web |author=Web Desk |date=8 August 2023 |title=Karachi Population in Digital Census rises above 20 mln |url=https://arynews.tv/karachi-population-digital-census-rises-20-mln/ |access-date=12 August 2023 |website=ARY NEWS |archive-date=12 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812122135/https://arynews.tv/karachi-population-digital-census-rises-20-mln/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast and formerly served as the capital of Pakistan. Ranked as a [[Global city|beta-global city]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008t.html |title=GaWC&nbsp;– The World According to GaWC 2008 |publisher=Lboro.ac.uk |date=3 June 2009 |access-date=14 September 2009 |archive-date=11 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811203314/http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008t.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diserio.com/gawc-world-cities.html |title=GAWC World Cities Ranking List |publisher=Diserio.com |access-date=14 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222031432/http://www.diserio.com/gawc-world-cities.html |archive-date=22 February 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> it is Pakistan's premier industrial and [[Finance:Financial centre|financial centre]],<ref name="PIGJE">{{cite web |url=http://www.pigje.com.pk/about_karachi.html |title=PIGJE |website=pigje.com.pk |access-date=25 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140930024229/http://www.pigje.com.pk/about_karachi.html |archive-date=30 September 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> with an estimated GDP of over $200&nbsp;billion ([[Finance:Purchasing power parity|PPP]]) {{As of|2021|lc=y}}.<ref name="nation.com.pk" /><ref name="finance.gov.pk" /> Karachi is considered  Pakistan's most cosmopolitan city, and among the country’s most linguistically, ethnically-, and religiously-diverse regions,<ref name="Penguin Publishing Group">{{cite book |last=Inskeep |first=Steve |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bbjaCwAAQBAJ&q=Instant%20City%3A%20Life%20and%20Death%20in%20Karachi |title=Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-14-312216-6 |pages=284 |access-date=30 October 2016}}</ref> as well as one of the country’s most progressive and socially liberal cities.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1134284 |title=Visual Karachi: From Paris of Asia, to City of Lights, to Hell on Earth |first=Nadeem F. |last=Paracha |website=Dawn |date=26 September 2014 |access-date=8 March 2016 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309030323/http://www.dawn.com/news/1134284 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="India Today">{{cite news |last1=Abbas |first1=Qaswar |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/worlds-most-dangerous-country/1/149333.html |title=Karachi: World's most dangerous city |work=India Today |access-date=24 October 2016 |quote=Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, with a population of approx. 3.0 [[Crore|crore]] (Mumbai has 2{{nbsp}}crore people) is the country's most educated, liberal and secular metropolis. |archive-date=25 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025045121/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/worlds-most-dangerous-country/1/149333.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="dw.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.dw.com/en/pakistani-journalists-face-threats-from-islamists/a-16221061 |title=Pakistani journalists face threats from Islamists |access-date=24 October 2016 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |quote=This all happened in the heart of Karachi{{snd}}a relatively liberal city with a population of more than 15 million. |archive-date=25 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025050632/http://www.dw.com/en/pakistani-journalists-face-threats-from-islamists/a-16221061 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The region has been inhabited for millennia,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mahim |first1=Maher |title=Karachi's Stone Age proves history didn't start with the Muslims |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/626458/the-flintstones-karachis-stone-age-proves-history-didnt-start-with-the-muslims/ |access-date=16 October 2016 |work=The Express Tribune |date=3 November 2013 |archive-date=18 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018210506/http://tribune.com.pk/story/626458/the-flintstones-karachis-stone-age-proves-history-didnt-start-with-the-muslims/ |url-status=live }}</ref> but the city was formally founded as the fortified village of ''Kolachi'' as recently as 1729.<ref name="Studies on Karachi">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSbXCgAAQBAJ&q=Studies%20on%20Karachi%3A%20Papers%20Presented%20at%20the%20Karachi%20Conference%202013&pg=PR11 |last1=Askari |first1=Sabiah |title=Studies on Karachi: Papers Presented at the Karachi Conference 2013 |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-7744-2 |access-date=30 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="HarperCollins Publishers">{{cite book |last1=Gayer |first1=Laurent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xIDBAAAQBAJ&q=Karachi%3A%20Ordered%20Disorder%20and%20the%20Struggle%20for%20City |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for City |date=2014 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=9789351160861 |pages=368 |access-date=30 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223071518/https://books.google.com/books?id=9xIDBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=Karachi%3A%20Ordered%20Disorder%20and%20the%20Struggle%20for%20City |archive-date=23 December 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The settlement greatly increased in importance with the arrival of the East India Company in the mid-19th century. British administrators embarked on substantial projects to transform the city into a major seaport, and connect it with the extensive railway network of the [[Earth:Indian subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]].<ref name="HarperCollins Publishers" /> At the time of Pakistan's independence in 1947, the city was the largest in Sindh with an estimated population of 400,000 people.<ref name="Penguin Publishing Group" /> Afterwards, the city experienced a dramatic shift in population and demography with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants ([[Religion:Muhajir (Pakistan)|Muhajirs]]) from India,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Muhajir {{!}} people {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/muhajir |access-date=5 August 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |archive-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218210117/https://www.britannica.com/topic/muhajir |url-status=live }}</ref> coupled with a substantial exodus of its Hindu residents.<ref>{{citation |last1=Talbot |first1=Ian |last2=Singh |first2=Gurharpal |title=The Partition of India |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-67256-6 |year=2009 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/in/academic/subjects/history/twentieth-century-regional-history/partition-india?format=PB&isbn=9780521672566 |pages=120–121 |quote=Like Dacca, Karachi was a Hindu-majority city sureounded by a predominantly Muslim-populated hinterland. In 1941 Muslims formed 42 per cent of the population while caste and scheduled-caste Hindus together comprised 50.9 per cent. ... Between 1947 and 1953 Karachi's population increased from 400,000 to 1.3 million. The former Hindu-majority city became dominated by refugees who accounted for just under 60 per cent of the population in 1951 while the Hindu presence slumped to 0.5 per cent. |access-date=20 April 2023 |archive-date=11 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311131126/https://www.cambridge.org/in/academic/subjects/history/twentieth-century-regional-history/partition-india?format=PB&isbn=9780521672566 |url-status=live }}</ref> The city experienced rapid economic growth following Pakistan's independence, attracting migrants from throughout the country and other regions in South Asia.<ref name="Rowman & Littlefield">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mQ4tc5QpQcC&q=Cities%20of%20the%20World%3A%20World%20Regional%20Urban%20Development |last1=Brunn |first1=Stanley |title=Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development |date=2008 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-5597-6 |pages=647 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223064712/https://books.google.com/books?id=0mQ4tc5QpQcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=Cities%20of%20the%20World%3A%20World%20Regional%20Urban%20Development |archive-date=23 December 2016 |access-date=30 October 2016}}</ref> According to the 2017 Census of Pakistan, Karachi's total population was 16,051,521, with 14.9&nbsp;million of those people residing in the urban areas of the city. Karachi is one of the world's fastest-growing cities,<ref name="Kotkin">{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2013/04/08/the-worlds-fastest-growing-megacities/ |title=The World's Fastest-Growing Megacities |first=Joel |last=Kotkin |website=Forbes |access-date=2 September 2017 |archive-date=29 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829231312/https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2013/04/08/the-worlds-fastest-growing-megacities/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and has significant communities representing almost every ethnic group in Pakistan. Karachi holds more than two million Bengali immigrants, a million Afghan refugees, and up to 400,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar.<ref name="Falling back">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\12\17\story_17-12-2006_pg12_3 |title=Falling back |website=Daily Times |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805231755/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C12%5C17%5Cstory_17-12-2006_pg12_3 |archive-date=5 August 2011}}</ref><ref name="cidcm.umd.edu">{{cite web |url=http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/chronology.asp?groupId=77103 |title=Chronology for Biharis in Bangladesh |publisher=Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland |date=10 January 2007 |access-date=6 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602055513/http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/chronology.asp?groupId=77103 |archive-date=2 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Craig |first1=Time |title=Pakistan cracks down on Afghan immigrants, fearing an influx as U.S. leaves Afghanistan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pakistan-cracks-down-on-afghan-immigrants-fearing-an-influx-as-us-leaves-afghanistan/2014/05/12/74057f62-cfa9-11e3-b812-0c92213941f4_story.html |access-date=24 October 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post |quote=Qaim Ali Shah, the chief minister of Sindh province in southern Pakistan, said at a news conference in February that there were already more than 1{{nbsp}}million illegal Afghan immigrants living in Karachi, a rapidly growing city of 22&nbsp;million people. |archive-date=25 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025053115/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pakistan-cracks-down-on-afghan-immigrants-fearing-an-influx-as-us-leaves-afghanistan/2014/05/12/74057f62-cfa9-11e3-b812-0c92213941f4_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Karachi is now Pakistan's premier industrial and financial centre. The city has a formal economy estimated to be worth $190 billion {{As of|2021|lc=y}}, which is the largest in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://finance.gov.pk/ |title=&#124; Ministry of Finance &#124; Government of Pakistan &#124; |website=finance.gov.pk |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127164244/http://www.finance.gov.pk/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Lloyd's">{{cite web |title=Karachi, Pakistan |website=Lloyd's City Risk Index 2015–2025 |publisher=Centre for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School |url=http://www.lloyds.com/cityriskindex/locations/fact_sheet/Karachi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124092115/http://www.lloyds.com/cityriskindex/locations/fact_sheet/Karachi |archive-date=24 November 2016 |access-date=23 November 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Karachi collects 35% of Pakistan's tax revenue,<ref>{{cite web |title=The importance of Karachi – The Express Tribune |date=12 October 2015 |website=The Express Tribune |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/971188/the-importance-of-karachi/ |access-date=13 June 2016 |archive-date=8 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608022443/http://tribune.com.pk/story/971188/the-importance-of-karachi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and generates approximately 25% of [[Finance:Economy of Pakistan|Pakistan's entire GDP]].<ref name="adb">{{cite report |url=http://www.adb.org/Documents/Produced-Under-TA/38405/38405-PAK-DPTA.pdf |title=Karachi Mega-Cities Preparation Project |publisher=Asian Development Bank |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806043153/http://www.adb.org/Documents/Produced-Under-TA/38405/38405-PAK-DPTA.pdf |archive-date=6 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="coastline">{{cite web |url=http://www1.american.edu/TED/karachi.htm |title=The Karachi Coastline Case |work=The Trade & Environment Database |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811023331/http://www1.american.edu/TED/karachi.htm}}</ref> Approximately 30% of Pakistani industrial output is from Karachi,<ref name="stepmother">{{cite web |url=http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/database2/cover/c99-15.asp |title=Karachi: Step-motherly treatment |work=Pakistan and Gulf Economist |access-date=15 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721021435/http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/database2/cover/c99-15.asp |archive-date=21 July 2011}}</ref> while Karachi's ports handle approximately 95% of Pakistan's foreign trade.<ref name="a">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSZRBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |title=Drivers of Long-Term insecurity and Instability in Pakistan: Urbanization |date=2014 |publisher=Rand Corporation |isbn=978-0-8330-8750-8 |page=18}}</ref> Approximately 90% of the multinational corporations and 100% of the banks operating in Pakistan are headquartered in Karachi.<ref name="a" /> It also serves as a transport hub, and contains Pakistan's two largest seaports, the Port of Karachi and Port Qasim, as well as Pakistan's busiest airport, Jinnah International Airport.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Details – The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/images/10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710205815/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/images/10 |archive-date=10 July 2021 |access-date=10 July 2021 |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref> Karachi is also considered to be Pakistan's fashion capital,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1026258 |title=Fashion through the ages |last=Isani |first=Aamna Haider |date=5 May 2013 |work=Dawn |location=Pakistan |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-date=24 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124003625/https://www.dawn.com/news/1026258 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fashion-and-beauty/fashion/karachi-the-next-fashion-capital/article597194/ |title=Karachi the next fashion capital? |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803011548/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fashion-and-beauty/fashion/karachi-the-next-fashion-capital/article597194/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and has hosted the annual Karachi Fashion Week since 2009.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Pakistan's fashionistas: We aren't revolutionaries |work=CNN |first=Kiran |last=Khalid |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/23/pakistan.lahore.fashion.weel/index.html |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123201106/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/23/pakistan.lahore.fashion.weel/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Fashion Week Comes to Pakistan Amid Mayhem |last=Waraich |first=Omar |date=11 November 2009 |magazine=Time |issn=0040-781X |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1937708,00.html |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-date=7 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707074743/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1937708,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Known as the "City of Lights" in the 1960s and 1970s for its vibrant nightlife,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gayer |first1=Laurent |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023806-3 |page=18<!-- |pages=256-->}}</ref> Karachi was beset by sharp ethnic, sectarian, and political conflict in the 1980s with the large-scale arrival of weaponry during the [[Religion:Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref name="violentEnd">{{cite news |title=2011 brings a violent and bloody year of ethnic conflict to Karachi, Pakistan |url=http://www.pri.org/stories/2012-01-19/2011-brings-violent-and-bloody-year-ethnic-conflict-karachi-pakistan |access-date=16 October 2016 |agency=Public Radio International |date=19 January 2012 |archive-date=18 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018224547/http://www.pri.org/stories/2012-01-19/2011-brings-violent-and-bloody-year-ethnic-conflict-karachi-pakistan |url-status=live }}</ref> The city had become well known for its high rates of violent crime, but recorded crimes sharply decreased following a crackdown operation against criminals, the MQM political party, and [[Religion:Islamism|Islamist]] militants, initiated in 2013 by the Pakistan Rangers.<ref name="New York TImes">{{cite news |last1=ur-Rehman |first1=Zia |title=Crime Down in Karachi, Paramilitary in Pakistan Shifts Focus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/world/asia/crime-down-in-karachi-paramilitary-in-pakistan-shifts-focus.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/world/asia/crime-down-in-karachi-paramilitary-in-pakistan-shifts-focus.html |archive-date=3 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=22 October 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=7 November 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> As a result of the operation, Karachi dropped from being ranked the world's 6th-most dangerous city for crime in 2014, to 128th by 2022.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |title=Karachi's ranking improves on World Crime Index |url=https://www.geo.tv/latest/347857-karachis-ranking-improves-on-world-crime-index |access-date=2 May 2021 |website=www.geo.tv |archive-date=1 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501023643/https://www.geo.tv/latest/347857-karachis-ranking-improves-on-world-crime-index |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology==
[[File:Karachi04.jpg|thumb|240x240px|A postcard from 1930 of Elphinstone Street, Karachi.]]
Before independence, the city was widely known as ''Karanchi'' in [[Social:Urdu|Urdu]], though the English spelling ''Karachi'' became more popular over time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pakistan Emergency Situational Analysis – District Karachi |url=https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/PESA_DP_Karachi.pdf |publisher=Alhasan Systems |page=14 |date=2015 |access-date=1 September 2021 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901220204/https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/PESA_DP_Karachi.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Modern Karachi was reputedly founded in 1729 as the settlement of ''Kolachi-jo-Goth'' during the rule of Kalhora dynasty.<ref name="Studies on Karachi" /> The new settlement is said to have been named in honour of Mai Kolachi, whose son is said to have slain a man-eating crocodile in the village after his elder brothers had already been killed by it.<ref name="Studies on Karachi" /> The name ''Karachee,'' a shortened and corrupted version of the original name ''Kolachi-jo-Goth'', was used for the first time in a [[Social:Dutch language|Dutch]] report from 1742 about a shipwreck near the settlement.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

==History==


===Early history===
[[File:PK_Chaukhandi_Necropolis_near_Karachi_asv2020-02_img08.jpg|thumb|The 15th–18th century Chaukhandi tombs are a Tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site.]]

The region around Karachi has been the site of human habitation for millennia. [[Earth:Upper Paleolithic|Upper Paleolithic]] and Mesolithic sites have been excavated in the Mulri Hills along Karachi's northern outskirts. These earliest inhabitants are believed to have been [[Biology:Hunter-gatherer|hunter-gatherer]]s, with ancient flint tools discovered at several sites.

The expansive Karachi region is believed to have been known to the {{wipe|Ancient Greece}}, and may have been the site of Barbarikon, an ancient seaport which was located at the nearby mouth of the Indus River.<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitfield |first=Susan |title=Silk, Slaves, and Stupas: Material Culture of the Silk Road |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHBdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT118 |year=2018 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-95766-4 |page=118}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tan |first1=Chung |last2=Geng |first2=Yinzeng |title=India and China: twenty centuries of civilization interaction and vibrations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wx1uAAAAMAAJ |year=2005 |publisher=Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture, Centre for Studies in Civilizations |isbn=978-81-87586-21-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QkAaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA159 |title=The Month |date=1912 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sun |first1=Zhixin Jason |author-link1=Zhixin Jason Sun |last2=Hsing |first2=I-tien |author-link2=I-tien Hsing |last3=Liu |first3=Cary Y. |author-link3=Cary Y. Liu |last4=Lu |first4=Pengliang |last5=Tseng |first5=Lillian Lan-ying |last6=Hong |first6=Yang |last7=Yates |first7=Robin D. S. |last8=Zhang |first8=Zhonglin Yukina |title=Age of Empires: Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X6RODgAAQBAJ&pg=PR14 |year=2017 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-617-4 |page=14}}</ref> Karachi may also have been referred to as ''Ramya'' in ancient Greek texts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/174828-from-rambagh-to-arambagh |title=From Rambagh to Arambagh |last1=Hasan |first1=Arif |date=7 May 2009 |website=The News International |location=Karachi |access-date=17 April 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802193927/https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/174828-from-rambagh-to-arambagh |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The ancient site of Krokola, a natural harbor west of the Indus where Alexander the Great sailed his fleet for Achaemenid Assyria, may have been located near the mouth of Karachi's Malir River,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kapoor |first=Subodh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JggZAQAAIAAJ&q=krokola |title=Encyclopaedia of Ancient Indian Geography |date=2002 |publisher=Cosmo Publications |isbn=978-81-7755-298-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Pithawalla |first=Maneck B. |title=An Introduction to Karachi: Its Environs and Hinterland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlrlBTOs2jUC |year=1950 |publisher=Times Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Pithawalla |first=Maneck B. |title=A Physical and Economic Geography of Sind: The Lower Indus Basin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rKA9AAAAMAAJ |year=1959 |publisher=Sindhi Adabi Board}}</ref> though some believe it was located near Gizri.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Samad |first=Rafi U. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QAxuAAAAMAAJ&q=krokola |title=The Greeks in ancient Pakistan |date=2002 |publisher=Indus Publications |isbn=978-969-529-001-9 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McCrindle |first=John Watson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioE2AAAAMAAJ&q=alexander+great+karachi&pg=PR22 |title=The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as Described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin: Being Translations of Such Portions of the Works of These and Other Classical Authors as Describe Alexander's Campaigns in Afghanistan, the Punjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and Karmania |date=1896 |publisher=A. Constable and Company }}</ref> No other natural harbor exists near the mouth of the Indus that could accommodate a large fleet.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pithawalla |first=Maneck B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFA1AQAAIAAJ&q=bibakta |title=Identification and description of some old sites in Sind and their relation with the physical geography of the region |date=1938 }}</ref> Nearchus, who commanded Alexander's naval fleet, also mentioned a hilly island by the name of Morontobara and an adjacent flat island named ''Bibakta'', which colonial historians identified as Karachi's Manora Point and Kiamari (or Clifton), respectively, based on Greek descriptions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vincent |first=William |title=The Voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates, Collected from the Original Journal Preserved by Arrian ...: Containing an Account of the First Navigation Attempted by Europeans in the Indian Ocean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5deAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA180 |year=1797 |publisher=T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies |page=180}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Houtsma |first=M. Th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CP7fYghBFQC&pg=PA729 |title=E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 |date=1993 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09790-2 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lambrick |first=H. T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFFJAAAAIAAJ&q=bibakta |title=Sind: A General Introduction |date=1975 |publisher=Sindhi Adabi Board |isbn=9780195772203 }}</ref> Both areas were island until well into the colonial era, when silting in led to them being connected to the mainland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pithawalla |first=Maneck B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlrlBTOs2jUC&q=manora+island+silting |title=An Introduction to Karachi: Its Environs and Hinterland |date=1950 |publisher=Times Press }}</ref>

In 711 CE, Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh and Indus Valley and the port of Debal, from where he launched his forces further into the Indus Valley in 712.<ref>{{cite web |title=Karachi History |website=www.houstonkarachi.org |publisher=Houston Karachi Sister City Association |url=http://www.houstonkarachi.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44%3Akarachi-history&catid=3%3Aabout-hksca&Itemid=11 |archive-date=7 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107194206/http://www.houstonkarachi.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44%3Akarachi-history&catid=3%3Aabout-hksca&Itemid=11}}</ref> Some have identified the port with Karachi, though some argue the location was somewhere between Karachi and the nearby city of Thatta.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cunningham |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kT5JvRZCixQC&q=karachi+debal&pg=PA297 |title=The Ancient Geography of India: The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang |date=28 March 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-05645-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Elliot |first=Henry Miers |title=Appendix to the Arabs in Sind, Vol.III, Part 1, of the Historians of India &#91;sic&#93; |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ2SHSk3k6cC&pg=PA222 |year=1853 |publisher=S. Solomon & Company |page=222}}</ref>

Under Mirza Ghazi Beg, the Mughal administrator of Sindh, the development of coastal Sindh and the Indus River Delta was encouraged. Under his rule, fortifications in the region acted as a bulwark against [[Social:Portuguese language|Portuguese]] incursions into Sindh. In 1553–54, [[Place:Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] admiral Seydi Ali Reis, mentioned a small port along the Sindh coast by the name of ''Kaurashi'' which may have been Karachi.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Jonathan |last2=Blair |first2=Sheila |author-link2=Sheila Blair |title=Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4LrAAAAMAAJ |year=2009 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-530991-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baillie |first=Alexander Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7tIwAQAAMAAJ&q=kaurashi+karachi&pg=PA20 |title=Kurrachee: (Karachi) Past, Present and Future |date=1890 |publisher=Thacker, Spink |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204062652/https://books.google.com/books?id=7tIwAQAAMAAJ&q=kaurashi+karachi&pg=PA20#v=snippet&q=kaurashi%20karachi&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Balocu |first=Nabī Bak̲h̲shu K̲h̲ānu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7PZtAAAAMAAJ&q=kaurashi+karachi |title=Sindh, Studies Historical |date=2002 |publisher=Pakistan Study Centre, University of Sindh |isbn=978-969-8135-13-3 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204062540/https://books.google.com/books?id=7PZtAAAAMAAJ&q=kaurashi+karachi |url-status=live }}</ref> The Chaukhandi tombs in Karachi's modern suburbs were built around this time between the 15th and 18th centuries.

===Kolachi settlement===

[[File:Manora Beach, Karachi Pakistan.jpg|thumb|The Manora Fort, built-in 1797 to defend Karachi, was captured by the British on 3{{nbsp}}February 1839 and upgraded 1888–1889.]]

19th century Karachi historian Seth Naomal Hotchand recorded that a small settlement of 20–25 huts existed along the Karachi Harbour that was known as ''Dibro'', which was situated along a pool of water known as ''Kolachi-jo-Kun.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haider |first=Azimusshan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xA0rAAAAMAAJ&q=karachi+1729 |title=History of Karachi: With Special Reference to Educational, Demographical, and Commercial Developments, 1839–1900 |date=1974 |publisher=Haider |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204062540/https://books.google.com/books?id=xA0rAAAAMAAJ&q=karachi+1729 |url-status=live }}</ref>'' In 1725, a band of Baloch settlers from Makran and Kalat had settled in the hamlet after fleeing droughts and tribal feuds.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Gayer |first=Laurent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BklRBAAAQBAJ&q=manora+fort+karachi&pg=PA128 |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-935444-3 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204062541/https://books.google.com/books?id=BklRBAAAQBAJ&q=manora+fort+karachi&pg=PA128#v=snippet&q=manora%20fort%20karachi&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

A new settlement was built in 1729 at the site of ''Dibro'', which came to be known as ''Kolachi-jo-Goth'' ("The village of ''Kolachi").''<ref name="Studies on Karachi" /> The new settlement is said to have been named in honour of Mai Kolachi, a resident of the old settlement whose son is said to have slain a man-eating crocodile.<ref name="Studies on Karachi" /> Kolachi was about 40 hectares in size, with some smaller fishing villages scattered in its vicinity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karachi (Pakistan) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEErAAAAMAAJ&q=karachi+denso+hall |title=Brief Sketch of Karachi, the Nerve Center of Pakistan |date=1984 |publisher=The Corporation }}</ref> The founders of the new fortified settlement were Sindhi Baniyas,<ref name=":10" /> and are said to have arrived from the nearby town of Kharak Bandar after the harbour there silted in 1728 after heavy rains.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap8IAAAAQAAJ&q=karachi+kharak+bandar&pg=PA396 |title=A Gazetteer of the Province of Sindh |date=1874 |publisher=G. Bell and Sons |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204062653/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap8IAAAAQAAJ&q=karachi+kharak+bandar&pg=PA396#v=snippet&q=karachi%20kharak%20bandar&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Kolachi was fortified, and defended with cannons imported from Muscat, Oman. Under the Talpurs, the ''Rah-i-Bandar'' road was built to connect the city's port to the caravan terminals.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=Preserving cultural assets |url=http://beta.dawn.com/news/826915/preserving-cultural-assets |date=10 February 2008 |website=DAWN.COM |access-date=13 April 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803014019/http://beta.dawn.com/news/826915/preserving-cultural-assets |url-status=live }}</ref> This road would eventually be further developed by the British into Bandar Road, which was renamed Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tixuAAAAMAAJ&q=karachi+%22Rah-i-Bunder%22 |title=Sampark: Journal of Global Understanding |date=2004 |publisher=Sampark Literary Services |access-date=5 May 2020 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204062649/https://books.google.com/books?id=tixuAAAAMAAJ&q=karachi+%22Rah-i-Bunder%22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=URnrr_A5wZ8C&q=karachi+%22Rah-i-Bunder%22 |title=The Herald |date=1993 |publisher=Pakistan Herald Publications. }}</ref>

The name ''Karachee'' was used for the first time in a [[Social:Dutch language|Dutch]] document from 1742, in which a merchant ship ''de Ridderkerk'' is shipwrecked near the settlement.<ref name=":1">''The Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Diewel-Sind (Pakistan) in the 17th and 18th centuries'', Floor, W. Institute of Central & West Asian Studies, University of Karachi, 1993–1994, p. 49.</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite web |url=http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/das/detailVoyage/95544 |title=The Dutch East India Company's shipping between the Netherlands and Asia 1595–1795 |date=2 February 2015 |access-date=14 June 2015 |archive-date=26 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226084239/http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/das/detailVoyage/95544 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1770s, Karachi came under the control of the Khan of Kalat, which attracted a second wave of Balochi settlers.<ref name=":10" /> In 1795, Karachi was annexed by the Talpurs, triggering a third wave of Balochi settlers who arrived from central Sindh and southern Punjab.<ref name=":10" /> The Talpurs built the Manora Fort in 1797,<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Murray (publishers.) |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vg0IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA475 |title=A handbook for India. Part ii. Bombay |date=1859 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HpKhAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA20 |title=The Persian Gulf Pilot |date=1875 |publisher=J. D. Potter. }}</ref> which was used to protect Karachi's Harbor from al-Qasimi pirates.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Charles E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGboFK2QPUwC&pg=PA162 |title=The Blood-red Arab Flag: An Investigation Into Qasimi Piracy, 1797–1820 |date=1997 |publisher=University of Exeter Press |isbn=978-0-85989-509-5 |access-date=14 April 2020 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063149/https://books.google.com/books?id=tGboFK2QPUwC&pg=PA162#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1799 or 1800, the founder of the Talpur dynasty, Mir Fateh Ali Khan, allowed the East India Company under Nathan Crow to establish a trading post in Karachi.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Huttenback |first=Robert A. |url=https://archive.org/details/britishrelations0000hutt |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/britishrelations0000hutt/page/3 3] |title=British Relations with Sind, 1799–1843: An Anatomy of Imperialism |date=1962 |publisher=University of California Press }}</ref> He was allowed to build a house for himself in Karachi at that time, but by 1802 was ordered to leave the city.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sunderlal |first=Pandit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XcpmDwAAQBAJ&q=nathan+crow+sindh&pg=PT138 |title=British Rule in India |date=1 August 2018 |publisher=SAGE Publishing India |isbn=978-93-5280-803-8 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063200/https://books.google.com/books?id=XcpmDwAAQBAJ&q=nathan+crow+sindh&pg=PT138 |url-status=live }}</ref> The city continued to be ruled by the Talpurs until it was occupied by forces under the command of John Keane in February 1839.{{sfn|Laurent Gayer|2014|pp=42}}

===British control===

[[File:A street in Old Town, Karachi, India. Photograph, 1897. Wellcome V0029261.jpg|thumb|An 1897 image of Karachi's Rampart Row street in Mithadar]]
[[File:Mules_Mansion_01.jpg|thumb|Mules Mansion]]
[[File:Frere Hall Karachi. Pakistan.jpg|thumb|Some of Karachi's most recognized structures, such as Frere Hall, date from the British Raj.]]
[[File:Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) Head Office at M.A Jinnah Road - Photo By Aliraza Khatri.jpg|alt=|thumb|Karachi features several examples of colonial-era Indo-Saracenic architecture, such as the KMC Building.]]

The British East India Company captured Karachi on 3{{nbsp}}February 1839 after {{HMS|Wellesley|1815|6}} opened fire and quickly destroyed Manora Fort, which guarded Karachi Harbour at Manora Point.<ref>{{cite book |title=Recollections of Four Years' Service in the East with H.M. Fortieth Regiment |last=Neill |first=John Martin Bladen |year=1846 |url=https://archive.org/details/recollectionsoff00neilrich |access-date=27 November 2009}}</ref> Karachi's population at the time was an estimated 8,000 to 14,000,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baillie |first=Alexander Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7tIwAQAAMAAJ&q=denso+hall+sandstone+1886+rupees |title=Kurrachee: (Karachi) Past, Present and Future |date=1890 |publisher=Thacker, Spink |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063154/https://books.google.com/books?id=7tIwAQAAMAAJ&q=denso+hall+sandstone+1886+rupees#v=onepage&q=denso%20hall%20sandstone%201886%20rupees&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> and was confined to the walled city in Mithadar, with suburbs in what is now the Serai Quarter.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |url=http://beta.dawn.com/news/826915/preserving-cultural-assets |title=Preserving cultural assets |date=10 February 2008 |website=Dawn |location=Pakistan |access-date=13 April 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803014019/http://beta.dawn.com/news/826915/preserving-cultural-assets |url-status=live }}</ref> British troops, known as the "Company Bahadur" established a camp to the east of the captured city, which became the precursor to the modern Karachi Cantonment. The British further developed the Karachi Cantonment as a military garrison to aid the British war effort in the First Anglo-Afghan War.<ref name="Oxford University Press" />

The Portuguese Goan community started migrating to Karachi in the 1820s as traders. The majority of the estimated 100,000 who came to {{wipe|Pakistan}} are primarily concentrated in Karachi.<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |date=16 April 2022 |title=Celebrating Karachi's Goan connection {{!}} The Express Tribune |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2352894/celebrating-karachis-goan-connection |access-date=24 April 2022 |website=tribune.com.pk |archive-date=10 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510114007/https://tribune.com.pk/story/2352894/celebrating-karachis-goan-connection |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sindh's capital was shifted from Hyderabad to Karachi in 1840 when Karachi was annexed to the [[Place:British Empire|British Empire]] after Major General Charles James Napier captured the rest of Sindh following his victory against the Talpurs at the Battle of Miani. Following the 1843 annexation, on 17 February the entire province was amalgamated into the Bombay Presidency for the next 93 years, and Karachi remain the divisional headquarter. A few years later in 1846, Karachi suffered a large cholera outbreak, which led to the establishment of the Karachi Cholera Board (predecessor to the city's civic government).<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |url=http://shehri.org/img/Local%20%26%20City%20Govt%20FINAL%20File.pdf |title=LOCAL AND CITY GOVERNMENT HANDBOOK – PROVINCE OF SINDH AND KARACHI CITY |year=2018 |editor-last=Anwar |editor-first=Farhan |website=Shehri |isbn=978-969-9491-14-6 |access-date=6 April 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802200751/http://shehri.org/img/Local%20%26%20City%20Govt%20FINAL%20File.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The city grew under the administration of its new Commissioner, Henry Bartle Edward Frere, who was appointed in the 1850s. Karachi was recognized for its strategic importance, prompting the British to establish the Port of Karachi in 1854. Karachi rapidly became a transportation hub for British India owing to newly built port and rail infrastructure, as well as the increase in agricultural exports from the opening of productive tracts of newly irrigated land in Punjab and Sindh.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blood |first1=Peter R. |title=Pakistan: A Country Study |date=1996 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-0-7881-3631-3 |page=96}}</ref> By 1856, the value of goods traded through Karachi reached £855,103, leading to the establishment of merchant offices and warehouses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowden |first=Rob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=prF_ZLZKtggC&q=%22Indus+steam+flotilla%22+%22orient+inland%22&pg=PA35 |title=Settlements of the Indus River |date=2005 |publisher=Capstone Classroom |isbn=978-1-4034-5723-3 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063056/https://books.google.com/books?id=prF_ZLZKtggC&q=%22Indus+steam+flotilla%22+%22orient+inland%22&pg=PA35#v=snippet&q=%22Indus%20steam%20flotilla%22%20%22orient%20inland%22&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The population in 1856 is estimated to have been 57,000.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Heitzman |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/cityinsouthasia0000heit |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/cityinsouthasia0000heit/page/129 129] |title=The City in South Asia |date=31 March 2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-28963-9 }}</ref> During the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the 21st Native Infantry, then stationed in Karachi, mutinied and declared allegiance to rebel forces in September 1857, though the British were able to quickly defeat the rebels and reassert control over the city.

Following the Rebellion, British colonial administrators continued to develop the city's infrastructure, but continued to neglect localities like Lyari, which was home to the city's original population of Sindhi fishermen and Balochi nomads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Narayanan |first=Yamini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwUBCwAAQBAJ&q=post+partition+karachi&pg=PT242 |title=Religion and Urbanism: Reconceptualising sustainable cities for South Asia |date=19 November 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-75541-8 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063159/https://books.google.com/books?id=dwUBCwAAQBAJ&q=post+partition+karachi&pg=PT242#v=snippet&q=post%20partition%20karachi&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Karachi's port became an important cotton-exporting port,<ref name=":3" /> with ''Indus Steam Flotilla'' and ''Orient Inland Steam Navigation Company'' established to transport cotton from rest of Sindh to Karachi's port, and onwards to textile mills in England.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clarke |first=S. H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iew2AQAAMAAJ&q=Indus+steam+flotilla&pg=PA41 |title=The Scinde Railway and Indus Flotilla Companies: Their Futility and Hollowness Demonstrated, Also an Exposure of the Delusion which Exists Respecting the Five Per Cent Guarantee, which Insures No Dividend Whatever to the Respective Shareholders |date=1858 |publisher=Richardson Brothers |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063212/https://books.google.com/books?id=iew2AQAAMAAJ&q=Indus+steam+flotilla&pg=PA41#v=snippet&q=Indus%20steam%20flotilla&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> With increased economic opportunities, economic migrants from several ethnicities and religions, including Anglo-British, Parsis, Marathis, and Goan Christians, among others, established themselves in Karachi,<ref name=":3" /> with many setting-up businesses in the new commercial district of Saddar. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was born in Karachi's Wazir Mansion in 1876 to such migrants from Gujarat. Public building works were undertaken at this time in Gothic and Indo-Saracenic styles, including the construction of Frere Hall in 1865 and the later Empress Market in 1889.

With the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Karachi's position as a major port increased even further.<ref name=":3" /> In 1878, the British Raj connected Karachi with the network of [[History:British Raj#Railways|British India's vast railway system]]. In 1887, Karachi Port underwent radical improvements with connection to the railways, along with expansion and dredging of the port, and construction of a breakwater.<ref name=":3" /> Karachi's first synagogue was established in 1893.<ref>{{cite book |title=Studies on Karachi: Papers Presented at the Karachi Conference 2013 |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-8450-1 |editor1-last=Askari |editor1-first=Sabiah |pages=325}}</ref> By 1899, Karachi had become the largest wheat-exporting port in the East.<ref>[Herbert Feldman [1970]: ''Karachi Through a Hundred Years: The Centenary History of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry 1860–1960''. 2. ed. Karachi: Oxford University Press (1960).]</ref> In 1901, Karachi's population was 117,000 with a further 109,000 included in the Municipal area.<ref name=":3" />

Under the British, the city's municipal government was established. Known as the ''Father of Modern Karachi'', mayor Seth Harchandrai Vishandas led the municipal government to improve sanitary conditions in the Old City, as well as major infrastructure works in the New Town after his election in 1911.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha">{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1134284 |title=Visual Karachi: From Paris of Asia, to City of Lights, to Hell on Earth |first=Nadeem F. |last=Paracha |website=Dawn |date=26 September 2014 |location=Pakistan |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309030323/http://www.dawn.com/news/1134284 |url-status=live }}</ref> in 1914, Karachi had become the largest wheat-exporting port of the entire British Empire,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UgMeAQAAMAAJ&q=karachi+1914+largest+port |title=Ansari's Trade & Industrial Directory of Pakistan |publisher=Ansari Publishing House. |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063604/https://books.google.com/books?id=UgMeAQAAMAAJ&q=karachi+1914+largest+port |url-status=live }}</ref> after large irrigation works in Sindh were initiated to increase wheat and cotton yields.<ref name=":3" /> By 1924, the ''Drigh Road Aerodrome'' was established,<ref name=":3" /> now the Faisal Air Force Base.

Karachi's increasing importance as a cosmopolitan transportation hub leads to the influence of non-Sindhis in Sindh's administration. Half the city was born outside of Karachi by as early as 1921.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Gayer |first=Laurent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0BeBAAAQBAJ&q=post+partition+karachi&pg=PA23 |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City |date=1 July 2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023806-3 }}</ref> Native Sindhis were upset by this influence,<ref name=":3" /> and so on 1 April 1936, Sindh was established as a province separate from the Bombay Presidency with Karachi was once again made capital of Sindh. In 1941, the population of the city had risen to 387,000.<ref name=":3" />

===Post-independence===
[[File:Lord Mountbatten and his wife Advena in Karachi 14 August 1947.jpg|thumb|Lord Mountbatten and his wife Edwina in Karachi 14 August 1947]]
At the dawn of independence following the success of the Pakistan Movement in 1947, On 15 August 1947 Capital of Sindh shifted from Karachi to Hyderabad and Karachi was made the national capital of Pakistan.

Karachi was Sindh's largest city with a population of over 400,000.<ref name="Penguin Publishing Group" /> The city had a slight Hindu majority, with around 51% of the population being Hindu. Partition resulted in the exodus of much of the city's Hindu population, though Karachi, like most of Sindh, remained relatively peaceful compared to cities in Punjab.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Markovits |first=Claude |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2vu7Odjz6kC&q=karachi+riots+1948+muslim+refugees&pg=PA278 |title=The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama |date=22 June 2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-43127-9 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063708/https://books.google.com/books?id=M2vu7Odjz6kC&q=karachi+riots+1948+muslim+refugees&pg=PA278#v=snippet&q=karachi%20riots%201948%20muslim%20refugees&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Riots erupted on 6{{nbsp}}January 1948, after which most of Sindh's Hindu population fled to India,<ref name=":7" /> with assistance of the Indian government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zamindar |first=Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2u_IU-aoNhwC&q=karachi+riots+1948+muslim+refugees&pg=PA53 |title=The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories |date=14 November 2007 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51101-8 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063709/https://books.google.com/books?id=2u_IU-aoNhwC&q=karachi+riots+1948+muslim+refugees&pg=PA53#v=snippet&q=karachi%20riots%201948%20muslim%20refugees&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Karachi became the focus for the resettlement of middle-class [[Religion:Muslim|Muslim]] ''Muhajir'' refugees who fled India, with 470,000 refugees in Karachi by May 1948,<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Zamindar |first=Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5c9ta97GeoC&q=post+partition+karachi |title=The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories |date=2010 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-13847-5 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063605/https://books.google.com/books?id=n5c9ta97GeoC&q=post+partition+karachi#v=snippet&q=post%20partition%20karachi&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> leading to a drastic alteration of the city's demography. In 1941, Muslims were 42% of Karachi's population, but by 1951 made up 96% of the city's population.<ref name=":6" /> The city's population had tripled between 1941 and 1951.<ref name=":6" /> [[Social:Urdu|Urdu]] replaced [[Social:Sindhi language|Sindhi]] as Karachi's most widely spoken language; Sindhi was the mother tongue of 51% of Karachi in 1941, but only 8.5% in 1951, while Urdu grew to become the mother tongue of 51% of Karachi's population.<ref name=":6" /> 100,000 Muhajir refugees arrived annually in Karachi until 1952. Muhajirs kept arriving from different parts of {{wipe|India}} till 2000.<ref name=":6" />

Karachi was selected as the first capital of Pakistan, and was administered as a federal district separate from Sindh beginning in 1948,<ref name=":8" /> the capital of Sindh shifted again Hyderabad to Karachi until the national capital was shifted to [[Place:Rawalpindi|Rawalpindi]] in 1958.{{sfn|Barbara A. Weightman|2011|p={{page needed|date=February 2023}}}} While foreign embassies shifted away from Karachi, the city is host to numerous consulates and honorary consulates.<ref>{{cite book |title=Party, Government and Freedom in the Muslim World: Three Articles Reprinted from the Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2d Ed., V. 3, Parts 49–50 |date=1968 |publisher=Brill Archive |page=37}}</ref> Between 1958 and 1970, Karachi's role as capital of Sindh was ceased due to the One Unit programme enacted by President Iskander Mirza.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" />

Karachi of the 1960s was regarded as an economic role model around the world, with [[Place:Seoul|Seoul]], South Korea, borrowing from the city's second "Five-Year Plan".<ref>Planning Commission, The Second Five Year Plan: 1960–65, Karachi: Govt. Printing Press, 1960, p. 393</ref><ref>Planning Commission, Pakistan Economic Survey, 1964–65, Rawalpindi: Govt. Printing Press, 1965, p. 212.</ref> Several examples of Modernist architect were built in Karachi during this period, including the Mazar-e-Quaid mausoleum, the distinct Masjid-e-Tooba, and the Habib Bank Plaza (the tallest building in all of South Asia at the time). The city's population by 1961 had grown 369% compared to 1941.<ref name=":6" /> By the mid-1960s, Karachi began to attract large numbers of Pashtun, Punjabis and Kashmiris from northern Pakistan.<ref name=":6" />

The 1970s saw a construction boom funded by remittances and investments from the Gulf States, and the appearance of apartment buildings in the city.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gayer |first=Laurent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BklRBAAAQBAJ&q=karachi+1970s&pg=PA40 |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-935444-3 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063606/https://books.google.com/books?id=BklRBAAAQBAJ&q=karachi+1970s&pg=PA40#v=snippet&q=karachi%201970s&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Real-estate prices soared during this period, leading to a worsening housing crisis.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rurrAAAAMAAJ&q=karachi+1970s+boom |title=Population Growth and Policies in Mega-cities: Karachi |date=1988 |publisher=UN |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063714/https://books.google.com/books?id=rurrAAAAMAAJ&q=karachi+1970s+boom |url-status=live }}</ref> The period also saw labour unrest in Karachi's industrial estates beginning in 1970 that were violently repressed by the government of President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from 1972 onwards.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Nichola |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C28sDwAAQBAJ&q=karachi+1970s&pg=PT205 |title=Cityscapes of Violence in Karachi: Publics and Counterpublics |date=15 July 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-086978-6 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204063608/https://books.google.com/books?id=C28sDwAAQBAJ&q=karachi+1970s&pg=PT205#v=snippet&q=karachi%201970s&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> To appease conservative forces, Bhutto banned alcohol in Pakistan, and cracked-down of Karachi's discotheques and cabarets - leading to the closure of Karachi's once-lively nightlife.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last1=Udupa |first1=Sahana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_jwlDwAAQBAJ&q=karachi+1970s+zia&pg=PA41 |title=Media as Politics in South Asia |last2=McDowell |first2=Stephen D. |date=14 July 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-351-97221-5 }}</ref> The city's art scene was further repressed during the rule of dictator General Zia-ul-Haq.<ref name=":9" /> Zia's Islamization policies lead the Westernized upper-middle classes of Karachi to largely withdraw from the public sphere, and instead form their own social venues that became inaccessible to the poor.<ref name=":9" /> This decade also saw an influx of more than one million Bihari immigrants into Karachi from the newly made country Bangladesh which separated from Pakistan in 1971.

In 1972, the Karachi district divided into three districts, East, West and South districts.

The 1980s and 1990s saw an influx of almost one million Afghan refugees into Karachi fleeing the [[Religion:Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref name=":6" /> This was followed by refugees escaping from post-revolution [[Religion:Iran|Iran]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=C8D0B7394F7D074D6832875766C3D91E.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=1636848 |title=Afghan refugees population in Pakistan |journal=Journal of Biosocial Science |date=July 1990 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=269–279 |publisher=Journals.cambridge.org |doi=10.1017/S0021932000018654 |access-date=6 May 2010 |last1=Yusuf |first1=Farhat |pmid=2169475 |s2cid=33827916 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805060453/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=C8D0B7394F7D074D6832875766C3D91E.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=1636848 |url-status=live }}</ref> At this time, Karachi was also rocked by political conflict, while crime rates drastically increased with the arrival of weaponry from the War in Afghanistan.<ref name="violentEnd" /> Conflict between the MQM party, and ethnic Sindhis, Pashtuns, [[Social:Punjabis|Punjabis]] and Balochis was sharp.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lSCMAgAAQBAJ&q=mqm+pashto+punjabi+sindhi+conflict |title=Mohajir Militancy in Pakistan: Violence and Transformation in the Karachi Conflict |last=Khan |first=Nichola |date=5 April 2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135161927}}</ref> The party and its vast network of supporters were targeted by Pakistani security forces as part of the controversial Operation Clean-up in 1992{{snd}}an effort to restore peace in the city that lasted until 1994.<ref name="Minahan">{{cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |title=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World |volume=3 |year=2002 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-32111-5 |pages=1277–78}}</ref> Anti-Hindu riots also broke out in Karachi in 1992 in retaliation for the demolition of the Babri Mosque in India by a group of Hindu nationalists earlier that year.<ref>{{cite news |title=PAKISTANIS ATTACK 30 HINDU TEMPLES |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/08/world/pakistanis-attack-30-hindu-temples.html |access-date=1 December 2017 |work=The New York Times |date=8 December 1992 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225202434/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/08/world/pakistanis-attack-30-hindu-temples.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1996, two (02) more districts created in the Karachi division named Central and Malir districts.

The 2010s saw another influx of hundreds of thousands of Pashtun refugees fleeing [[Social:War in North-West Pakistan|conflict in North-West Pakistan]] and the 2010 Pakistan floods.<ref name=":6" /> By this point Karachi had become widely known for its high rates of violent crime, usually in relation to criminal activity, gang-warfare, sectarian violence, and extrajudicial killings.<ref name=":5" /> Recorded crimes sharply decreased following a controversial crackdown operation against criminals, the MQM party, and Islamist militants initiated in 2013 by the Pakistan Rangers.<ref name="New York TImes" /> As a result of the operation, Karachi went from being ranked the world's 6th most dangerous city for crime in 2014, to 128th by 2022.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Dawn.com |first=Imtiaz Ali {{!}} |date=7 February 2020 |title=Karachi jumps 22 points since last year on global crime index |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1533023 |access-date=4 March 2020 |website=Dawn |location=Pakistan |archive-date=4 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304072617/https://www.dawn.com/news/1533023 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2022 at least one million flood affectees from Sindh and Balochistan took refuge in Karachi.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

==Geography==


Karachi is located on the coastline of Sindh province in southern Pakistan, along the Karachi Harbour, a natural harbour on the Arabian Sea. Karachi is built on a coastal plain with scattered rocky outcroppings, hills and marshlands. [[Earth:Mangrove|Mangrove]] forests grow in the brackish waters around the Karachi Harbour, and farther southeast towards the expansive Indus River Delta. West of Karachi city is the Cape Monze, locally known as Ras Muari, which is an area characterised by sea cliffs, rocky sandstone promontories and beaches.

Karachi lies very close to a major fault line, where the [[Earth:Indian Plate|Indian tectonic plate]] meets the [[Earth:Arabian Plate|Arabian tectonic plate]].<ref>{{cite web |title=KARACHI: Karachi's earthquake history |date=26 October 2005 |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/162899/karachi-karachi-s-earthquake-history |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815083644/https://www.dawn.com/news/162899/karachi-karachi-s-earthquake-history |url-status=live }}</ref> Within the city of Karachi are two small ranges: the Khasa Hills and Mulri Hills, which lie in the northwest and act as a barrier between North Nazimabad and Orangi.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=204319&Cat=4&dt=10/18/2009 |title=A story behind every name |date=21 October 2009 |website=The News International, Pakistan |access-date=14 June 2015 |archive-date=7 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007115813/http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=204319&Cat=4&dt=10%2F18%2F2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Karachi's hills are barren and are part of the larger Kirthar Range, and have a maximum elevation of {{convert|528|m|abbr=off}}.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Between the hills are wide coastal plains interspersed with dry river beds and water channels. Karachi has developed around the Malir River and Lyari Rivers, with the Lyari shore being the site of the settlement for ''Kolachi''. To the east of Karachi lies the Indus River flood plains.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Karachi.pdf |title=The case of Karachi, Pakistan |publisher=University College London |access-date=1 June 2016 |archive-date=15 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915074410/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Karachi.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Climate===

[[File:Karachi beach panorama.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The Arabian Sea influences Karachi's climate, providing the city with more moderate temperatures compared to other areas of Sindh province.]]
Karachi has a hot desert climate ([[Earth:Köppen climate classification|Köppen]]: ''BWh'') dominated by a long "Summer Season" while moderated by oceanic influence from the Arabian Sea. The city has low annual average precipitation levels (approx. {{cvt|174|mm|0}} per annum), the bulk of which occurs during the July–August [[Earth:Monsoon|monsoon]] season. Summers are hot and humid, and Karachi is prone to deadly heatwaves.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jul/22/where-world-hottest-city-kuwait-karachi-ahvaz |title=Where is the world's hottest city? |first=Hayley |last=Birch |date=22 July 2015 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=3 March 2016 |archive-date=9 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209050452/https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jul/22/where-world-hottest-city-kuwait-karachi-ahvaz |url-status=live }}</ref> On the other hand, cool sea breezes typically provide relief during hot summer months. A text message-based early warning system alerts people to take precautionary measures and helps prevent fatalities during an unusually strong heatwave or thunderstorm.<ref name="heatwave">{{cite news |title=With Early Warning, Karachi Cools a Heat Wave Threat |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/early-warning-pakistan-heat-wave-threat/4115662.html |access-date=1 December 2017 |work=Voice of America |date=14 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201182102/https://www.voanews.com/a/early-warning-pakistan-heat-wave-threat/4115662.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The winter climate is dry and lasts between December and February. It is dry and pleasant in winter relative to the warm hot season that follows, which starts in March and lasts until October. Proximity to the sea maintains humidity levels at near-constant levels year-round. Thus, the climate is similar to a humid tropical climate except for low precipitation and occasional temperatures well over 100 F (38 C) due to dry continental influence.

The city's highest monthly rainfall, {{cvt|19|in}}, occurred in July 1967.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/opinion/pakistan-climate-change.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage |title=Pakistan's Most Terrifying Adversary Is Climate Change |date=27 September 2020 |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Fatima |last=Bhutto |access-date=25 May 2021 |archive-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808203852/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/opinion/pakistan-climate-change.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="pakmet">{{cite web |url=http://www.pakmet.com.pk/cdpc/extrems/KARACHI.htm |title=Climate data&nbsp;– Karachi |publisher=Pakistan Meteorological Department, Government of Pakistan |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100422011000/http://www.pakmet.com.pk/cdpc/extrems/KARACHI.htm |archive-date=22 April 2010}}</ref> The city's highest rainfall in 24 hours occurred on 7{{nbsp}}August 1953, when about {{convert|278.1|mm|in}} of rain lashed the city, resulting in major flooding.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://beta.dawn.com/news/206412/rain-havoc-in-karachi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026221139/http://www.dawn.com/2006/08/18/top2.htm |url-status=dead |title=Rain havoc in Karachi |first=Dawn |last=Report |date=18 August 2006 |archive-date=26 October 2010 |website=DAWN.COM}}</ref>

Karachi's highest recorded temperature is {{cvt|47.8|C}} which was recorded on 9{{nbsp}}May 1938,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pmd.gov.pk/cdpc/extrems/karachi.htm |title=Karachi Extremes |publisher=Pakistan Meteorological Department |location=Pakistan |access-date=1 November 2020 |archive-date=10 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810055653/http://www.pmd.gov.pk/cdpc/extrems/KARACHI.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and the lowest is {{convert|0|C|F}} recorded on 21 January 1934.<ref name=pakmet />
{{Weather box
|width = auto
|location = Karachi
|metric first = Y
|single line = Y
|Jan record high C = 32.8
|Feb record high C = 36.5
|Mar record high C = 42.5
|Apr record high C = 44.4
|May record high C = 47.8
|Jun record high C = 47.0
|Jul record high C = 42.2
|Aug record high C = 41.7
|Sep record high C = 42.8
|Oct record high C = 43.3
|Nov record high C = 38.5
|Dec record high C = 35.5
|Jan high C = 25.9
|Feb high C = 27.9
|Mar high C = 31.7
|Apr high C = 34.5
|May high C = 35.3
|Jun high C = 35.2
|Jul high C = 33.1
|Aug high C = 31.9
|Sep high C = 32.8
|Oct high C = 35.1
|Nov high C = 32.2
|Dec high C = 27.9
|Jan mean C = 20.4
|Feb mean C = 21.2
|Mar mean C = 25.4
|Apr mean C = 28.8
|May mean C = 31.0
|Jun mean C = 31.8
|Jul mean C = 30.4
|Aug mean C = 29.2
|Sep mean C = 28.7
|Oct mean C = 27.8
|Nov mean C = 24.6
|Dec mean C = 20.4
|Jan low C = 10.8
|Feb low C = 13.0
|Mar low C = 17.7
|Apr low C = 22.5
|May low C = 26.2
|Jun low C = 28.1
|Jul low C = 27.5
|Aug low C = 26.2
|Sep low C = 25.4
|Oct low C = 21.4
|Nov low C = 16.3
|Dec low C = 12.2
|Jan record low C = 0.0
|Feb record low C = 3.3
|Mar record low C = 7.0
|Apr record low C = 12.2
|May record low C = 17.7
|Jun record low C = 22.1
|Jul record low C = 22.2
|Aug record low C = 20.0
|Sep record low C = 18.0
|Oct record low C = 10.0
|Nov record low C = 6.1
|Dec record low C = 1.3
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 8.4
|Feb precipitation mm = 7.4
|Mar precipitation mm = 5.3
|Apr precipitation mm = 3.0
|May precipitation mm = 0.1
|Jun precipitation mm = 10.8
|Jul precipitation mm = 60.0
|Aug precipitation mm = 60.9
|Sep precipitation mm = 11.0
|Oct precipitation mm = 2.6
|Nov precipitation mm = 0.4
|Dec precipitation mm = 4.8
|Jan precipitation days = 0.7
|Feb precipitation days = 0.8
|Mar precipitation days = 0.7
|Apr precipitation days = 0.2
|May precipitation days = 0.1
|Jun precipitation days = 0.9
|Jul precipitation days = 8.0
|Aug precipitation days = 3.3
|Sep precipitation days = 0.7
|Oct precipitation days = 0.3
|Nov precipitation days = 0.1
|Dec precipitation days = 0.7
|Jan sun = 269.7
|Feb sun = 251.4
|Mar sun = 272.8
|Apr sun = 276
|May sun = 297.6
|Jun sun = 231
|Jul sun = 155
|Aug sun = 148.8
|Sep sun = 219
|Oct sun = 282.1
|Nov sun = 273
|Dec sun = 272.8
|Jand sun = 8.7
|Febd sun = 8.9
|Mard sun = 8.8
|Aprd sun = 9.2
|Mayd sun = 9.6
|Jund sun = 7.7
|Juld sun = 5
|Augd sun = 4.8
|Sepd sun = 7.3
|Octd sun = 9.1
|Novd sun = 9.1
|Decd sun = 8.8
|Jan percentsun = 81
|Feb percentsun = 79
|Mar percentsun = 73
|Apr percentsun = 72
|May percentsun = 72
|Jun percentsun = 56
|Jul percentsun = 37
|Aug percentsun = 37
|Sep percentsun = 59
|Oct percentsun = 78
|Nov percentsun = 83
|Dec percentsun = 83
|Jan uv=6
|Feb uv=8
|Mar uv=10
|Apr uv=12
|May uv=12
|Jun uv=12
|Jul uv=12
|Aug uv=12
|Sep uv=11
|Oct uv=9
|Nov uv=6
|Dec uv=5
|source =PMD (1991–2020),<ref name= PMD>{{cite web |url=http://ffd.pmd.gov.pk/cp/ffd.php |title=Flood Forecasting Division Lahore |access-date=25 February 2020 |archive-date=23 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223210209/http://ffd.pmd.gov.pk/cp/ffd.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Weather Atlas,<ref name=weather-atlas.com>{{cite web |url=https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/pakistan/karachi-climate |title=Weather Atlas |publisher=Weather Atlas |access-date=4 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228202014/https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/pakistan/karachi-climate |archive-date=28 February 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and Karachi Extremes (1931–2018)<ref name= PMDE>{{cite web |url=http://www.pmd.gov.pk/cdpc/extrems/karachi.htm |title=Krachi Extremes |publisher=Pakistan Meteorological Department |access-date=1 November 2020 |archive-date=10 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810055653/http://www.pmd.gov.pk/cdpc/extrems/KARACHI.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynres?ind=41780&ano=2022&mes=3&day=30&hora=12&min=0&ndays=30 |title=41780: Karachi Airport (Pakistan) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=29 March 2022 |website=ogimet.com |publisher=OGIMET |access-date=30 March 2022 |quote= |archive-date=4 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204215409/https://www.ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynres?ind=41780&ano=2022&mes=3&day=30&hora=12&min=0&ndays=30 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

===Cityscape===
{{Wide image|File:Skyline of Karachi.jpg|1100px|A view of the city from I. I. Chundrigar Road.}}
The city first developed around the Karachi Harbour, and owes much of its growth to its role as a seaport at the end of the 18th century,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gayer |first1=Laurent |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=33}}</ref> contrasted with Pakistan's millennia-old cities such as Lahore, Multan, and Peshawar. Karachi's Mithadar neighbourhood represents the extent of ''Kolachi'' prior to British rule.

British Karachi was divided between the "New Town" and the "Old Town", with British investments focused primarily on the New Town.<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book |last1=Gayer |first1=Laurent |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-935444-3}}</ref> The Old Town was a largely unplanned neighbourhood which housed most of the city's indigenous residents and had no access to sewerage systems, electricity, and water.<ref name="Oxford University Press" /> The New Town was subdivided into residential, commercial, and military areas.<ref name="Oxford University Press" /> Given the strategic value of the city, the British developed the Karachi Cantonment as a military garrison in the New Town to aid the British war effort in the First Anglo-Afghan War.<ref name="Oxford University Press" />
The city's development was largely confined to the area north of the China Creek prior to independence, although the seaside area of Clifton was also developed as a posh locale under the British, and its large bungalows and estates remain some of the city's most desirable properties. The aforementioned historic areas form the oldest portions of Karachi, and contain its most important monuments and government buildings, with the I. I. Chundrigar Road being home to most of Pakistan's banks, including the Habib Bank Plaza which was Pakistan's tallest building from 1963 until the early 2000s.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" />
Situated on a coastal plain northwest of Karachi's historic core lies the sprawling district of Orangi. North of the historic core is the largely middle-class district of Nazimabad, and upper-middle-class North Nazimabad, which were developed in the 1950s. To the east of the historic core is the area known as Defence, an expansive upscale suburb developed and administered by the Pakistan Army. Karachi's coastal plains along the Arabian Sea south of Clifton were also developed much later as part of the greater Defence Housing Authority project.
Karachi's city limits also include several islands, including Baba and Bhit Islands, Oyster Rocks, and Manora, a former island which is now connected to the mainland by a thin 12-kilometre long [[Earth:Shoal|shoal]] known as Sandspit. Gulistan-e-Johar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B. Area, Malir, Landhi and Korangi areas were all developed after 1970. The city has been described as one divided into sections for those able to afford to live in planned localities with access to urban amenities, and those who live in unplanned communities with inadequate access to such services.<ref name="e">{{cite book |editor1-last=Askari |editor1-first=Sabiah |title=Studies on Karachi: Papers Presented at the Karachi Conference 2013 |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Scholars |isbn=978-1-4438-8450-1}}</ref> 35% of Karachi's residents live in unplanned communities.<ref name="e" />

==Economy==

Being the largest city, Karachi is also Pakistan's financial and commercial capital.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=City District Government Karachi |url=http://14.192.147.139/CDGK/Portals/0/Department/Master%20Plan/App%20KSDP-2020%20VERSION%20ANNEXURE1.pdf |title=Annexures |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916070947/http://14.192.147.139/CDGK/Portals/0/Department/Master%20Plan/App%20KSDP-2020%20VERSION%20ANNEXURE1.pdf |archive-date=16 September 2013}}</ref> Since Pakistan's independence, Karachi has been the centre of the nation's economy, and remain's Pakistan's largest urban economy despite the economic stagnation caused by sociopolitical unrest during the late 1980s and 1990s. The city forms the centre of an economic corridor stretching from Karachi to nearby Hyderabad, and Thatta.<ref name="wb">{{cite journal |date=November 2016 |title=Karachi City Diagnostic: livability, sustainability and growth in the city of Karachi |url=http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/935241478612633044/pdf/109961-WP-PUBLIC-disclosed-11-9-16-5-pm-Pakistan-Development-Update-Fall-2016-with-compressed-pics.pdf |journal=Pakistan Development Update |pages=45–49 |access-date=29 November 2017 |archive-date=15 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215131807/http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/935241478612633044/pdf/109961-WP-PUBLIC-disclosed-11-9-16-5-pm-Pakistan-Development-Update-Fall-2016-with-compressed-pics.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{As of|2021}}, Karachi had an estimated GDP (PPP) of $190&nbsp;billion with a yearly growth rate of 5.5%.<ref name="pwc1">{{cite web |url=https://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3421&NewsAreaID=2 |title=Global city GDP rankings 2008–2025 |publisher=PricewaterhouseCoopers |access-date=12 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513194342/https://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3421&NewsAreaID=2}}</ref><ref name="Lloyd's"/> Karachi contributes 90% of Sindh's GDP<ref name="gdp4">{{cite web |url=http://www.spdc-pak.com/pubs/pubdisp.asp?id=nps5 |title=Provincial Accounts of Pakistan: Methodology and Estimates (1973-2000) |author1=Kaiser Bengali |author2=Mahpara Sadaqat |publisher=Social Policy and Development Center |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410155311/http://spdc-pak.com/pubs/pubdisp.asp?id=nps5 |archive-date=10 April 2008}}</ref><ref name="dawngdp2">{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/2006/02/21/ebr3.htm |title=Sindh, Balochistan's share in GDP drops |work=Dawn Group of Newspapers |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604174526/http://www.dawn.com/2006/02/21/ebr3.htm |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="dawngdp1">{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/2007/06/16/ebr3.htm |title=Sindh's GDP estimated at Rs 240&nbsp;billion |website=Dawn |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614200105/http://www.dawn.com/2007/06/16/ebr3.htm |archive-date=14 June 2008}}</ref><ref name="dawngdp3">{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/2004/12/02/ebr1.htm |title=Sindh share in GDP falls by 1pc |work=Dawn Group of Newspapers |date=2 December 2004 |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-date=10 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210194151/http://www.dawn.com/2004/12/02/ebr1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and accounts for approximately 25% of the total GDP of Pakistan.<ref name="adb" /><ref name="coastline" /> The city has a large [[Finance:Informal economy|informal economy]] which is not typically reflected in GDP estimates.<ref name="cipe.org">{{cite journal |date=22 August 2013 |title=When Karachi Bleeds, Pakistan's Economy Bleeds |url=http://www.cipe.org/blog/2013/08/22/when-karachi-bleeds-pakistans-economy-bleeds/ |journal=Center for International Private Enterprise |access-date=2 November 2016 |archive-date=4 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104000822/http://www.cipe.org/blog/2013/08/22/when-karachi-bleeds-pakistans-economy-bleeds/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The informal economy may constitute up to 36% of Pakistan's total economy, versus 22% of India's economy, and 13% of the Chinese economy.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-04-05/the-secret-strength-of-pakistans-economy |title=The Secret Strength of Pakistan's Economy |date=12 April 2012 |access-date=2 November 2016 |agency=Bloomberg |archive-date=4 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104001315/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-04-05/the-secret-strength-of-pakistans-economy |url-status=live }}</ref> The informal sector employs up to 70% of the city's workforce.<ref name="SAGE">{{cite journal |last1=Hasan |first1=Arif |date=April 2015 |title=Land contestation in Karachi and the impact on housing and urban development |journal=Environment and Urbanization |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=217–230 |doi=10.1177/0956247814567263 |pmc=4540218 |pmid=26321797|bibcode=2015EnUrb..27..217H }}</ref> In 2018 The Global Metro Monitor Report ranked Karachi's economy as the best performing metropolitan economy in Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Brookings-Metro_Global-Metro-Monitor-2018.pdf |title=Global Metro Monitor 2018 |author1=Bouchet, Max |author2=Liu, Sifan |author3=Parilla, Joseph |author4=Kabbani, Nader |date=June 2018 |access-date=23 November 2018 |publisher=Brookings Institution |archive-date=16 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224530/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Brookings-Metro_Global-Metro-Monitor-2018.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Karachi Chundrigar skyline.jpg|thumb|I. I. Chundrigar Road is considered to be the "downtown" of karachi]]
Today along with Pakistan's continued economic expansion Karachi is now ranked third in the world for consumer expenditure growth with its market anticipated to increase by 6.6% in real terms in 2018<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://blog.euromonitor.com/2018/03/cities-consumer-expenditure-asia.html |title=Euromonitor 2018 research |website=Euromonitor research |access-date=13 May 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625104231/https://blog.euromonitor.com/2018/03/cities-consumer-expenditure-asia.html |archive-date=25 June 2018}}</ref> It is also ranked among the top cities in the world by an anticipated increase of a number of households (1.3&nbsp;million households) with annual income above $20,000 dollars measured at PPP exchange rates by 2025.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Mckinsey Urban Mapping (cities) |journal=Mckinsey (Urban Maping) |url=https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Global%20Themes/Urbanization/Urban%20world/MGI_urban_world_mapping_economic_power_of_cities_full_report.ashx |access-date=13 May 2018 |archive-date=16 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716011839/http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Global%20Themes/Urbanization/Urban%20world/MGI_urban_world_mapping_economic_power_of_cities_full_report.ashx |url-status=live }}</ref> The Global FDI Intelligence Report 2017/2018 published by [[Social:Financial Times|Financial Times]] ranks Karachi amongst the top 10 Asia pacific cities of the future for FDI strategy.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fdiintelligence.com/Rankings/fDi-s-Asia-Pacific-Cities-of-the-Future-2017-18-the-winners |title=fDi's Asia-Pacific Cities of the Future 2017/18 – the winners |last=Intelligence |first=fDi |website=fdiintelligence.com |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123201119/https://www.fdiintelligence.com/Rankings/fDi-s-Asia-Pacific-Cities-of-the-Future-2017-18-the-winners |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Anatol Lieven the economic growth of Karachi is a result of the influx of [[Religion:Mahajir (Pakistan)|Muhajirs]] to Karachi during late 1940s and early 50s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lieven |first=Anatol |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/710995260 |title=Pakistan : a hard country |date=2011 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-61039-021-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=710995260 |access-date=24 September 2022 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204064157/https://search.worldcat.org/title/710995260 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Finance and banking===
Most of Pakistan's public and private banks are headquartered on Karachi's I. I. Chundrigar Road, which is known as "Pakistan's Wall Street",<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> with a large percentage of the cash flow in the Pakistani economy taking place on I. I. Chundrigar Road. Most major foreign [[Finance:Multinational corporation|multinational corporation]]s operating in Pakistan have their headquarters in Karachi. Karachi is also home to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, which was rated as Asia's best-performing stock market in 2015 on the heels of Pakistan's upgrade to emerging-market status by [[Company:MSCI|MSCI]].<ref>{{cite news |title=What's Next For Asia's Best-Performing Stock Market? |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-20/what-s-next-for-asia-s-best-performing-stock-market |access-date=1 November 2016 |publisher=Bloomberg L.P. |date=20 October 2016 |archive-date=1 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101102549/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-20/what-s-next-for-asia-s-best-performing-stock-market |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Media and technology===


Karachi has been the pioneer in cable networking in Pakistan with the most sophisticated of the cable networks of any city of Pakistan,{{sfn|Amos Owen Thomas|2005|pp=121}}
and has seen an expansion of [[Engineering:Information technology|information and communications technology]] and [[Social:Electronic media|electronic media]]. The city has become a software outsourcing hub for Pakistan.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} Several independent television and radio stations are based in Karachi, including Business Plus, {{Lang|ur-latn|AAJ News|italic=no}}, Geo TV, KTN,<ref name="ktn">{{cite web |url=http://www.ktn.com.pk |title=Welcome to KTN TV |publisher=KTN |access-date=20 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070117020638/http://www.ktn.com.pk/ |archive-date=17 January 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Sindh TV,<ref name="sindhtv">{{cite web |url=http://www.thesindh.tv/contact.htm |title=Sindh TV |publisher=Sindh TV |access-date=20 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102071108/http://www.thesindh.tv/contact.htm |archive-date=2 January 2008}}</ref> CNBC Pakistan, TV ONE, Express TV,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.express.com.pk/ |title=Daily Express Urdu Newspaper – Latest Pakistan News – Breaking News |website=express.com.pk |access-date=5 August 2017 |archive-date=3 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803005842/https://express.com.pk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ARY Digital, Indus Television Network, Samaa TV, Abb Takk News, Bol TV, and Dawn News, as well as several local stations.

===Industry===

Industry contributes a large portion of Karachi's economy, with the city home to several of Pakistan's largest companies dealing in textiles, cement, steel, heavy machinery, chemicals, and food products.<ref name="dawn4">{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/14/ebr1.htm |title=World Bank report: Karachi termed most business-friendly |work=Dawn Group of Newspapers |access-date=15 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011155147/http://dawn.com/2007/02/14/ebr1.htm |archive-date=11 October 2007}}</ref> The city is home to approximately 30 percent of Pakistan's manufacturing sector,<ref name="stepmother" /> and produces approximately 42 percent of Pakistan's [[Finance:Value added|value added]] in large scale manufacturing.<ref>{{cite news |title=How important is Karachi to Pakistan? |url=http://www.brecorder.com/weekend-magazine/0:/1186182:how-important-is-karachi-to-pakistan/?date=2012-05-05 |access-date=2 November 2016 |work=Business Recorder |date=5 May 2012 |archive-date=21 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921083953/http://www.brecorder.com/weekend-magazine/0:/1186182:how-important-is-karachi-to-pakistan/?date=2012-05-05 |url-status=dead}}</ref> At least 4500 industrial units form Karachi's formal industrial economy.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hasan |first1=Arif |title=The case of Karachi, Pakistan |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Karachi.pdf |access-date=2 November 2016 |archive-date=15 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915074410/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Karachi.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Karachi's informal manufacturing sector employs far more people than the formal sector, though proxy data suggest that the capital employed and value-added from such informal enterprises is far smaller than that of formal sector enterprises.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sayeed |first1=Asad |last2=Husain |first2=Khurram |last3=Raza |first3=Syed Salim |title=INFORMALITY IN KARACHI'S LAND, MANUFACTURING, AND TRANSPORT SECTORS |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW114-Informality-in-Karachis-Land-Manufacturing-and-Transport-Sectors.pdf |publisher=United States Institute for Peace |access-date=2 November 2016 |quote=Informal manufacturing is more prevalent than formal manufacturing in terms of the number of people employed, land area covered by informal enterprises, and a number of enterprises. Output data are unavailable, but proxy data suggest that informal manufacturing is far smaller in terms of capital employed and value-added. |archive-date=3 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160903025624/http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW114-Informality-in-Karachis-Land-Manufacturing-and-Transport-Sectors.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> An estimated 63% of the Karachi's workforce is employed in trade and manufacturing.<ref name="wb" />

Karachi Export Processing Zone, SITE, Korangi, Northern Bypass Industrial Zone, Bin Qasim and North Karachi serve as large industrial estates in Karachi.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry |publisher=Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry |url=http://www.fpcci.com.pk/industrialzone.asp |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907204417/http://www.fpcci.com.pk/industrialzone.asp |archive-date=7 September 2011}}</ref> The Karachi Expo Centre also complements Karachi's industrial economy by hosting regional and international exhibitions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Full Service Interactive Agency&nbsp;– MAGSNET LIMITED |publisher=Epb.gov.pk |url=http://www.epb.gov.pk/v1/expocenter/ |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112132910/http://www.epb.gov.pk/v1/expocenter/}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name of estate !! Location !! Established !! Area in acres
|-
|SITE Karachi ||SITE Town ||1947 ||4700<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.site-association.org/Background_and_Profile.html |title=Welcome To S.I.T.E Association of Industry of Karachi |publisher=Site-association.org |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001154743/http://site-association.org/Background_and_Profile.html/ |archive-date=1 October 2015}}</ref>
|-
|Korangi Industrial Area ||Korangi Town ||1960 ||8500<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kati.pk/ |title=Welcome |publisher=Korangi Association of Trade & Industry |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=5 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005050022/http://www.kati.pk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|Landhi Industrial Area ||Landhi Town ||1949 ||11000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://landhi.org/aboutus/landhifacts.php |title=Landhi.Org |publisher=Landhi Association of Trade and Industry |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831120946/http://landhi.org/aboutus/landhifacts.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|North Karachi Industrial Area ||New Karachi Town ||1974 ||725<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nkati.org/ |title=North Karachi Association of Trade & Industry |publisher=North Karachi Association of Trade & Industry |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=7 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307102359/http://nkati.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|Federal B Industrial Area ||Gulberg Town ||1987 ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fbati.com/ |title=Federal B Area Association of Trade & Industry |publisher=Federal B Area Association of Trade & Industry |date=17 December 2013 |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=21 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321063224/http://www.fbati.com/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
|Korangi Creek Industrial Park ||Korangi Creek Cantonment ||2012||250<ref>{{cite web |agency=APP |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/634069/construction-approved-korangi-creek-industrial-park-land-up-for-grabs/ |title=Construction approved: Korangi Creek Industrial Park land up for grabs |website=The Express Tribune |date=20 November 2013 |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001952/http://tribune.com.pk/story/634069/construction-approved-korangi-creek-industrial-park-land-up-for-grabs/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|Bin Qasim Industrial Zone ||Bin Qasim Town ||1970 ||25000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bqati.com.pk/ |title=BQATI {Bin Qasim Association of Trade & Industry} |publisher=Bin Qasim Association of Trade & Industry |access-date=10 February 2014}}</ref>
|-
|Karachi Export Processing Zone ||Landhi Town ||1980<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/issue2000/issue13/etc6.htm |title=Export Processing Zone Authority |publisher=Pakistaneconomist.com |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=1 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001011256/http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/issue2000/issue13/etc6.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> ||315<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epza.gov.pk/karachi.html |title=Welcome To EPZA |publisher=Epza.gov.pk |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217185414/http://www.epza.gov.pk/karachi.html |archive-date=17 February 2014}}</ref>
|-
|Pakistan Textile City ||Bin Qasim Town ||2004 ||1250<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.textilecity.com.pk/ |title=Textile City |publisher=Textile City |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212111901/http://www.textilecity.com.pk/ |archive-date=12 February 2014}}</ref>
|-
|West Wharf Industrial Area ||Keamari Town ||||430
|-
|SITE Super Highway Phase-I ||Super Highway ||1983 ||300<ref name=site />
|-
|SITE Super Highway Phase-II ||Super Highway ||1992 ||1000<ref name=site>{{cite web |url=http://www.site.com.pk/ |title=site.com.pk |publisher=Sindh Industrial Trading Estates |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=12 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212014827/http://www.site.com.pk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|}

===Revenue collection===

[[File:Old building of State Bank of Pakistan, Now its known as State Bank Museum.jpg|thumb|The former State Bank of Pakistan building was built during the colonial era.]]

As home to Pakistan's largest ports and a large portion of its manufacturing base, Karachi contributes a large share of Pakistan's collected tax revenue. As most of Pakistan's large multinational corporations are based in Karachi, income taxes are paid in the city even though income may be generated from other parts of the country.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Janjua |title=Karachi contributing 70% of federal tax revenue – a myth |url=http://www.brecorder.com/articles-a-letters/187:articles/1185461:karachi-contributing-70-of-federal-tax-revenue-a-myth/ |access-date=2 November 2016 |work=Business Recorder |date=13 October 2015 |archive-date=4 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104033351/http://www.brecorder.com/articles-a-letters/187:articles/1185461:karachi-contributing-70-of-federal-tax-revenue-a-myth/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> As home to the country's two largest ports, Pakistani customs officials collect the bulk of federal duty and tariffs at Karachi's ports, even if those imports are destined for one of Pakistan's other provinces.<ref>{{cite news |title=The importance of Karachi |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/971188/the-importance-of-karachi/ |access-date=2 November 2016 |work=The Express Tribune |date=12 October 2015 |archive-date=13 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113105825/http://tribune.com.pk/story/971188/the-importance-of-karachi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Approximately 25% of Pakistan's national revenue is ''generated'' in Karachi.<ref name="adb" />

According to the Federal Board of Revenue's 2006–2007 year book, tax and customs units in Karachi were responsible for 46.75% of direct taxes, 33.65% of federal excise tax, and 23.38% of domestic sales tax.<ref name="fbr0607">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbr.gov.pk/YearBook/2006-2007/FBRyearbook2006-2007.pdf |title=Federal Board of Revenue Year Book 2006–2007 |access-date=12 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925013600/http://www.cbr.gov.pk/YearBook/2006-2007/FBRyearbook2006-2007.pdf |archive-date=25 September 2010}}</ref> Karachi accounts for 75.14% of customs duty and 79% of sales tax on imports,<ref name="fbr0607" /> and collects 53.38% of the total collections of the Federal Board of Revenue, of which 53.33% are customs duty and sales tax on imports.<ref name="fbr0607" /><ref>note: Revenue collected from Karachi includes revenue from some other areas since the Large Tax Unit (LTU) Karachi and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur & Quetta cover the entire province of Sindh and Balochistan {{Dead link|date=January 2022}}</ref>

==Demographics==


[[File:Bahadurabad Area Karachi City.jpg|thumb|Bahadurabad Area has a high population density.]]

Karachi is the most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse city in Pakistan.<ref name="Penguin Publishing Group" /> The city is a [[Social:Melting pot|melting pot]] of ethnolinguistic groups from throughout Pakistan, as well as migrants from other parts of Asia. The 2017 census numerated Karachi's population to be 14,910,352, having grown 2.49% per year since the 1998 census, which had listed Karachi's population at approximately 9.3&nbsp;million.<ref name="ETT"/> The city's inhabitants are referred to by the demonym ''Karachiite'' in English, and ''Karāchīwālā'' in Urdu.

=== Language ===
{{Pie chart|label1=[[Social:Urdu|Urdu]]|label2=[[Social:Pashto|Pashto]]|label3=[[Social:Punjabi language|Punjabi]]|label4=[[Social:Sindhi language|Sindhi]]|label5=Saraiki|label6=Hindko|label7=Balochi|color1=green|color2=orange|color3=skyblue|color4=red|color5=blue|color6=Pink|color7=Purple|value1=42.30|value2=15.01|value3=10.73|value4=10.67|value5=4.98|value6=4.24|value7=4.04|caption=|value8=8.01|color8=Grey|label8=Others}}
Karachi has the largest number of Urdu speakers in Pakistan.{{sfn|Amos Owen Thomas|2005|pp=121}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=2017 census shows ratio of Urdu-speaking populace decreasing in Karachi |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/871983-2017-census-shows-ratio-of-urdu-speaking-populace-decreasing-in-karachi |access-date=11 February 2023 |website=The News International |archive-date=11 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211000705/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/871983-2017-census-shows-ratio-of-urdu-speaking-populace-decreasing-in-karachi |url-status=live }}</ref> As per the 2017 census, the linguistic breakdown of Karachi Division is:
{| class="wikitable"
!Language
!Rank
!2017 census<ref name="pbscensus2">{{cite web |publisher=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics |title=TABLE 11 – POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE, SEX AND RURAL/ URBAN |url=http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/census_2017_tables/sindh/Table11p.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807175349/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/census_2017_tables/sindh/Table11p.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2021 |access-date=28 July 2021}}</ref>
!Speakers
!1998 census{{sfn|Jonah Blank|Christopher Clary|Brian Nichiporuk|2014}}
!Speakers
!1981 census{{sfn|Stephen P. Cohen|2004}}
!Speakers
|-
!Urdu
|1
|42.30%
|6,779,142
|48.52%
|4,497,747
|54.34%
|2,830,098
|-
!Pashto
|2
|15.01%
|2,406,011
|11.42%
|1,058,650
|8.71%
|453,628
|-
![[Social:Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
|3
|10.73%
|1,719,636
|13.94%
|1,292,335
|13.64%
|710,389
|-
![[Social:Sindhi language|Sindhi]]
|4
|10.67%
|1,709,877
|7.22%
|669,340
|6.29%
|327,591
|-
!Saraiki
|5
|4.98%
|798,031
|2.11%
|195,681
|0.35%
|18,228
|-
!Balochi
|6
|4.04%
|648,964
|4.34%
|402,386
|4.39%
|228,636
|-
!Others
|7
|12.25%
|1,963,233
|12.44%
|1,153,126
|12.27%
|639,560
|-
!All
|
|100%
|16,024,894
|100%
|9,269,265
|100%
|5,208,132
|}
The category of "others" includes Hindko, [[Social:Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], Kohistani, [[Social:Burushaski|Burushaski]], [[Social:Gujarati language|Gujarati]], Memoni, [[Social:Marwari language|Marwari]], Dari, [[Social:Brahui language|Brahui]], Makrani, Khowar, Gilgiti, Balti, [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]], [[Social:Persian language|Farsi]], and [[Social:Bengali language|Bengali]].<ref name="demographics">{{cite web |title=Karachi |url=http://www.findpk.com/cities/html/karachi.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014142856/http://www.findpk.com/cities/html/karachi.html |archive-date=14 October 2013 |access-date=10 February 2014 |publisher=Findpk.com}}</ref>

===Population===

At the end of the 19th century, Karachi had an estimated population of 105,000.<ref name="c">{{cite web |url=http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/karachi-population/ |title=Karachi Population 2016 |website=World Population Review |access-date=25 February 2016 |archive-date=19 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219014636/http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/karachi-population/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By the dawn of Pakistan's independence in 1947, the city had an estimated population of 400,000.<ref name="Penguin Publishing Group" /> The city's population grew dramatically with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees from the newly independent Republic of India.<ref name="Port Qasim | About Karachi">{{cite web |title=Port Qasim &#124; About Karachi |url=http://www.pqa.gov.pk/about_karachi.php |access-date=10 February 2014 |publisher=Port Qasim Authority |archive-date=29 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029204215/http://www.pqa.gov.pk/about_karachi.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Rapid economic growth following independence attracted further migrants from throughout Pakistan and South Asia.<ref name="Rowman & Littlefield" /> The 2017 census numerated Karachi's population to be 14,910,352, having grown 2.49% per year since the 1998 census, which had listed Karachi's population at approximately 9.3&nbsp;million.<ref name="ETT"/>

Lower than expected population figures from the census suggest that Karachi's poor infrastructure, law and order situation, and weakened economy relative to other parts of Pakistan made the city less attractive to in-migration than previously thought.<ref name="ETT"/> The figure is disputed by all the major political parties in Sindh.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.samaa.tv/social-buzz/2017/08/karachiites-lash-census-results-social-media/ |title=Karachiites lash out against census results on social media – Samaa TV |website=samaa.tv |access-date=24 January 2018 |archive-date=19 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119060653/https://www.samaa.tv/social-buzz/2017/08/karachiites-lash-census-results-social-media/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://nation.com.pk/03-Nov-2017/assembly-rejects-initial-census-results |title=Assembly rejects initial census results |work=The Nation |access-date=24 January 2018 |archive-date=5 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105073831/https://nation.com.pk/03-Nov-2017/assembly-rejects-initial-census-results |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newsone.tv/pakistan-news/ppp-psp-mqm-pakistan-rejects-census-2017-results-2 |title=After PPP and PSP, MQM-Pakistan rejects census 2017 results |date=29 August 2017 |work=NewsOne |access-date=24 January 2018 |archive-date=22 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122001204/https://www.newsone.tv/pakistan-news/ppp-psp-mqm-pakistan-rejects-census-2017-results-2 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Karachi's population grew by 59.8% since the 1998 census to 14.9&nbsp;million, while Lahore city grew 75.3%<ref name=stats/>{{snd}}though Karachi's census district had not been altered by the provincial government since 1998, while Lahore's had been expanded by Punjab's government,<ref name=stats/> leading to some of Karachi's growth to have occurred outside the city's census boundaries.<ref name="ETT"/> Karachi's population had grown at a rate of 3.49% between the 1981 and 1998 census, leading many analysts to estimate Karachi's 2017 population to be approximately 18&nbsp;million by extrapolating a continued annual growth rate of 3.49%. Some had expected that the city's population to be between 22 and 30&nbsp;million,<ref name="ETT">{{cite news |title=Karachi's population – fiction and reality |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/1505657/karachis-population-fiction-reality/ |access-date=1 December 2017 |work=The Express Tribune |date=14 September 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201134547/https://tribune.com.pk/story/1505657/karachis-population-fiction-reality/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which would require an annual growth rate accelerating to between 4.6% and 6.33%.<ref name="ETT"/>
{{Karachi Historical Population
|title=Historical Population
|1729=250
|1838=14000
|1842=15000
|1850=16773
|1856=22227
|1861=56859
|1881=73560
|1891=105199
|1901=136297
|1911=186771
|1921=244162
|1931=300779
|1941=435887
|1951=1137667
|1961=2044044
|1972=3606744
|1981=5437984
|1986=7443663
|1998=9802134
|2017=14910352
|align-fn=center
|footnote=Source:<ref name="pt28Aug2017">{{Cite web |url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/08/28/ten-major-cities-population-up-by-74pc/ |title=Ten major cities' population up by 74pc |access-date=21 October 2017 |archive-date=18 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218175027/https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/08/28/ten-major-cities-population-up-by-74pc/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Laurent Gayer|2014|pp=26}}<ref name="statpak">{{cite web |url=http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/pop_major_cities/pop_major_cities.html |title=Population size and growth of major cities |publisher=Population Census Organization, Government of Pakistan |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222175007/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/pop_major_cities/pop_major_cities.html |archive-date=22 December 2010}}<br />Note: The 1998 census showed a population of about nine million but this did not include workers living in Karachi but registered as living elsewhere in Pakistan by the National Database and Registration Authority as well as large numbers of Afghan refugees, Bangladeshis, Indians, Nepalis and others (incl. Filipinos, Iranians, Iraqis, Burmese).</ref><ref name=npr>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91009748 |title=The Urban Frontier – Karachi |publisher=NPR |date=2 June 2008 |access-date=17 January 2010 |archive-date=7 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007221557/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91009748 |url-status=live }}</ref><br />† Large population rise between 1941 and 1951 due to<br />large-scale migration after independence in 1947.
}}

Political parties in the province have suggested the city's population has been underestimated in a deliberate attempt to undermine the political power of the city and province.<ref name=taj/> Senator Taj Haider from the PPP claimed he had official documents revealing the city's population to be 25.6&nbsp;million in 2013,<ref name=taj>{{cite news |title=Census commissioner rejects political parties' concerns |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1369642 |access-date=1 December 2017 |work=Dawn |date=10 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201131256/https://www.dawn.com/news/1369642 |url-status=live }}</ref> while the Sindh Bureau of Statistics, part of by the PPP-led provincial administration, estimated Karachi's 2016 population to be 19.1&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sindh at a Glance – 2016 |url=http://sindhbos.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Sindh-at-Glance-2016.pdf |website=Sindh Bureau of Statistics |publisher=Government of Sindh |access-date=1 December 2017 |page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201131518/http://sindhbos.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Sindh-at-Glance-2016.pdf |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== District population density per km<sup>2</sup>===

According to 2017 Census, with 43,063.51 residents per square kilometre Karachi Central is the most densely populated district of the six districts of Karachi as well as the entirety of Pakistan.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
|-
!|Rank
!|District
!|Population (2017 census)<ref name="pbscensus-District wise - Sindh">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/District%20wise%20Sindh%20TABLE%201%202017%20FINAL.pdf |title=TABLE – 4 AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, URBAN PROPORTION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OF SINDH |publisher=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics |access-date=22 October 2021 |archive-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118090211/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/District%20wise%20Sindh%20TABLE%201%202017%20FINAL.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>
!|Area (Sq.&nbsp;km.)
!|Density
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 1
! Central
|2,971,382
|69
|43,063.51
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 2
! Korangi
|2,577,556
|108
|23,866.26
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 3
! East
|2,875,315
|139
|20,685.72
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 4
! South
|1,769,230
|122
|14,501.89
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 5
! West
|3,907,065
|929
|4,205.67
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 6
! Malir
|1,924,364
|2,160
|890.90
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 
! All
|'''16,024,894'''
|'''3,527'''
|'''4,543.49'''
|-
|}

===Ethnicity===

The oldest portions of modern Karachi reflect the ethnic composition of the first settlement, with Balochis and Sindhis continuing to make up a large portion of the Lyari neighbourhood,<ref name="autogenerated3" /> though many of the residents are relatively recent migrants. Following Partition, large numbers of Hindus left Pakistan for the newly independent Dominion of India (later the Republic of India), while a larger percentage of Muslim migrant and refugees from India settled in Karachi. The city grew 150% during the ten year period between 1941 and 1951 with the new arrivals from India,<ref name="Pakistan: A Country Study">{{cite book |last1=Blood |first1=Peter R. |title=Pakistan: A Country Study |date=1986 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-0-7881-3631-3 |page=96}}</ref> who made up 57% of Karachi's population in 1951.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinnells |first1=John |title=The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-151350-3 |page=193}}</ref> The city is now considered a melting pot of Pakistan and is the country's most diverse city.<ref name="autogenerated3" />

Karachi is the largest [[Social:Bengali language|Bengali]] speaking city outside [[Place:Bengal|Bengal]] region.

In 2011, an estimated 2.5&nbsp;million foreign migrants lived in the city, mostly from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gayer |first1=Laurent |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for City |date=2014 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India |isbn=9789351160861}}</ref>
[[File:PK Karachi asv2020-02 img88 Charminar Chowrangi.jpg|thumb|Karachi is home to large numbers of descendants of refugees and migrants from [[Place:Hyderabad|Hyderabad]], in southern India, who built a small replica of Hyderabad's famous Charminar monument in Karachi's Bahadurabad area.]]

Much of Karachi's citizenry descend from Urdu-speaking migrants and refugees from North India who became known by the Arabic term for "Migrant": Muhajir. The first Muhajirs of Karachi arrived in 1946 in the aftermath of the Great Calcutta Killings and subsequent 1946 Bihar riots.<ref>{{cite book |last1=BHAVNANI |first1=NANDITA |title=THE MAKING OF EXILE: SINDHI HINDUS AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA |date=2014 |publisher=Westland |isbn=9789384030339 |pages=434 |chapter=3}}</ref> The city's wealthy Hindus opposed the resettlement of refugees near their homes, and so many refugees were accommodated in the older and more congested parts of Karachi.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bhavnani |first1=Nandita |year=2014 |title=The Making of Exile: Sindhi Hindus and the Partition of India |publisher=Westland |pages=39–40 |isbn=9789384030339 |quote=In June 1947, it was initially proposed to settle the muhajirs on a large plot of land in Bunder Road Extension, a well-heeled suburb of Karachi. This was, however, a residential area dominated by affluent Sindhi Hindus, who became nervous about such a large number of discontented lower-class Muslim refugees living in such close proximity to them. Given their influence, the Hindus were able to sway the government into transferring the proposed resettlement site to Lyari, a more congested and lower middle-class area.}}</ref> The city witnessed a large influx of Muhajirs following Partition, who were drawn to the port city and newly designated federal capital for its white-collar job opportunities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tan |first1=Tai Yong |last2=Kudaisya |first2=Gyanesh |author-link2=Gyanesh Kudaisya |year=2000 |title=The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/aftermathpartiti00kuda |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge |pages=[https://archive.org/details/aftermathpartiti00kuda/page/n248 234]–235 |isbn=978-0-415-17297-4 |quote=In 1947, as the new Federal Government of Pakistan struggled to establish itself in Karachi, a large number of Muslim refugees from northern India came and settled down in the city{{nbsp}}... Karachi became the preferred destination of northern Indian Urdu-speaking Muslims who hoped to find white-collar employment opportunities in the cosmopolitan commercial and port city.}}</ref> Muhajirs continued to migrate to Pakistan throughout the 1950s and early 1960s,<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=Khalidi |first=Omar |date=Autumn 1998 |title=From Torrent to Trickle: Indian Muslim Migration to Pakistan, 1947–97 |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=37 |number=3 |pages=339–352 |jstor=20837002}}</ref> with Karachi remaining the primary destination of Indian Muslim migrants throughout those decades.<ref name=":0"/> The Muhajir Urdu-speaking community in the 2017 census forms slightly less than 45% of the city's population.<ref name=stats>{{cite news |title=STATISTICS: THE KARACHI-LAHORE CENSUS CONUNDRUM |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1356681 |access-date=1 December 2017 |work=Dawn |date=10 September 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201080932/https://www.dawn.com/news/1356681 |url-status=live }}</ref> Muhajirs form the bulk of Karachi's middle class.<ref name="autogenerated3" />

Karachi is home to a wide array of non-Urdu speaking Muslim peoples from what is now the Republic of India. The city has a sizable community of Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani-speaking refugees.<ref name="autogenerated3" /> Karachi is also home to a several-thousand member strong community of Malabari Muslims from Kerala in South India.<ref>{{cite web |author=M R Narayan Swamy |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_where-malayalees-once-held-sway_4610 |title=Where Malayalees once held sway & Updates at |website=Daily News and Analysis |date=5 October 2005 |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=17 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317161132/http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_where-malayalees-once-held-sway_4610 |url-status=live }}</ref> These ethno-linguistic groups are being [[Social:Cultural assimilation|assimilated]] in the Urdu-speaking community.<ref name="http">{{cite web |url=http://www.merinews.com/article/political-and-ethnic-battles-turn-karachi-into-beirut-of-south-asia/15875445.shtml |title=Political and ethnic battles turn Karachi into Beirut of South Asia " Crescent |publisher=Merinews.com |access-date=24 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130080304/http://www.merinews.com/article/political-and-ethnic-battles-turn-karachi-into-beirut-of-south-asia/15875445.shtml |archive-date=30 November 2012}}</ref>

During the period of rapid economic growth in the 1960s, large numbers Pashtuns from the NWFP migrated to Karachi with Afghan Pashtun refugees settling in Karachi during the 80's.<ref name=pbs>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/07/karachis_invisi.html |title=Karachi's Invisible Enemy |first=Sharmeen |last=Obaid-Chinoy |publisher=PBS |date=17 July 2009 |access-date=24 August 2010 |archive-date=24 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824071128/http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/07/karachis_invisi.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The National">{{cite web |url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090825/FOREIGN/708249931 |title=In a city of ethnic friction, more tinder |website=The National |date=24 August 2009 |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116211443/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20090825%2FFOREIGN%2F708249931 |archive-date=16 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="tribune.com.pk">{{cite magazine |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/43827/the-pakhtun-in-karachi/ |title=Columnists &#124; The Pakhtun in Karachi |magazine=Time |date=28 August 2010 |access-date=8 September 2011 |archive-date=25 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525040935/http://tribune.com.pk/story/43827/the-pakhtun-in-karachi/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="thefridaytimes.com">http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110715&page=5 {{Webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20121209085408/http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110715&page=5 |date=9 December 2012 }}, thefridaytimes</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.dawn.com/2009/02/10/local9.htm |title=UN body, police baffled by minister's threat against Afghan refugees |date=10 February 2009 |access-date=24 January 2012 |archive-date=14 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914183620/http://archives.dawn.com/2009/02/10/local9.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Karachi is home to the world's largest urban Pashtun population,<ref name="Crossroads">{{cite book |last1=Jaffrelot |first1=Christophe |title=Pakistan at the Crossroads: Domestic Dynamics and External Pressures |date=2016 |publisher=Columbia University |isbn=978-0-231-54025-4 |page=128<!-- |pages=384--> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A791CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 |access-date=24 November 2016 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204064134/https://books.google.com/books?id=A791CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA128#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> with more Pashtun citizens than the Peshawar.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /><ref name="Crossroads" /> Pashtuns from Afghanistan are regarded as the most conservative community.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> Pashtuns from Pakistan's Swat Valley, in contrast, are generally seen as more liberal in social outlook.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> The Pashtun community forms the bulk of manual labourers and transporters.{{sfn|Laurent Gayer|2014|pp=44}} Anatol Lieven of [[Organization:Georgetown University in Qatar|Georgetown University in Qatar]] wrote that due to Pashtuns settling the city, "Karachi (not Kabul, Kandahar or Peshawar) is the largest Pashtun city in the world."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lieven |first=Anatol |title=An Afghan Tragedy: The Pashtuns, the Taliban and the State |journal=Survival: Global Politics and Strategy |volume=63 |year=2021 |issue=3 |pages=7–36 |doi=10.1080/00396338.2021.1930403 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Migrants from Punjab began settling in Karachi in large numbers in the 1960s, and now make up an estimated 14% of Karachi's population.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> The community forms the bulk of the city's police force.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> The bulk of Karachi's Christian community, which makes up 2.5% of the city's population, is Punjabi.<ref name="pakistanchristianpost.com">[http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/viewarticles.php?editorialid=272 Pakistan Christian Post] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194247/http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/viewarticles.php?editorialid=272 |date=3 March 2016 }} accessed 5 August 2017</ref>

Despite being the capital of Sindh province, only 6–8% of the city is Sindhi.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> Sindhis form much of the municipal and provincial bureaucracy.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> 4% of Karachi's population speaks Balochi as its mother tongue, though most Baloch speakers are of Sheedi heritage{{snd}}a community that traces its roots to Africa.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" />

Following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and independence of Bangladesh, thousands of Urdu-speaking Biharis arrived in the city, preferring to remain Pakistani rather than live in the newly independent country. Large numbers of Bengalis also migrated from Bangladesh to Karachi during periods of economic growth in the 1980s and 1990s. Karachi is now home to an estimated 2.5 to 3{{nbsp}}million ethnic Bengalis living in Pakistan.<ref name="Falling back" /><ref name="cidcm.umd.edu" /> Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, who speak a dialect of Bengali and are sometimes regarded as Bengalis, also live in the city. Karachi is home to an estimated 400,000 Rohingya residents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derek-flood/from-south-to-south-refug_b_100387.html |title=From South to South: Refugees as Migrants: The Rohingya in Pakistan |website=HuffPost |date=12 May 2008 |access-date=24 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606233229/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derek-flood/from-south-to-south-refug_b_100387.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-333213-Bengali-and-Rohingya-leaders-gearing-up-for-LG-polls |title=Bengali and Rohingya leaders gearing up for LG polls |website=The News |access-date=18 December 2015 |archive-date=14 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814203153/http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-333213-Bengali-and-Rohingya-leaders-gearing-up-for-LG-polls |url-status=dead}}</ref> Large scale Rohingya migration to Karachi made Karachi one of the largest population centres of Rohingyas in the world outside of Myanmar.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1165299 |title=Identity issue haunts Karachi's Rohingya population |last=Rehman |first=Zia Ur |date=23 February 2015 |work=Dawn |quote=Their large-scale migration had made Karachi one of the largest Rohingya population centres outside Myanmar but afterwards the situation started turning against them. |access-date=26 December 2016 |archive-date=8 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108165340/http://www.dawn.com/news/1165299 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Central Asian migrants from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have also settled in the city.<ref name="conflictedkarachi">{{cite web |url=http://blog.dawn.com/2010/08/26/conflicting-karachi/ |title=Conflicted Karachi |website=Dawn |date=26 August 2010 |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=7 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107161946/http://blog.dawn.com/2010/08/26/conflicting-karachi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Domestic workers from the {{wipe|Philippines}} are employed in Karachi's posh locales, while many of the city's teachers hail from Sri Lanka.<ref name="conflictedkarachi" /> Many Sri Lankans moved to Karachi due to the 2022 Economic Crisis in Sri Lanka. Expatriates from China began migrating to Karachi in the 1940s, to work as dentists, chefs and shoemakers, while many of their descendants continue to live in Pakistan.<ref name="conflictedkarachi" /><ref name="DawnKarachi">{{citation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040715054506/http://dawn.com/report/lifestyles/mino1.htm |archive-date=15 July 2004 |url=http://dawn.com/report/lifestyles/mino1.htm |date=9 July 2001 |access-date=26 July 2009 |periodical=Dawn |title=The melting pot by the sea |last=Ramzi |first=Shanaz}}</ref> Chinese also reached Karachi after 2015 in large number due to the CPEC project. The city is also home to a small number of British and American expatriates.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/14/news/mn-53634 |title=After Slayings, Americans in Karachi Weigh Choices |website=Los Angeles Times |date=12 June 2009 |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=11 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811110617/http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/14/news/mn-53634 |url-status=live }}</ref>

During [[Social:World War II|World War II]], about 3,000 Polish refugees from the [[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet Union]], with some Polish families who chose to remain in the city after Partition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wbj.pl/article-54930-polish-pakistan-relations-a-need-for-understanding.html |title=Warsaw Business Journal&nbsp;– Online Portal |publisher=wbj.pl |date=13 June 2011 |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304210743/http://www.wbj.pl/article-54930-polish-pakistan-relations-a-need-for-understanding.html |archive-date=4 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tNENuKhDGfwC&pg=PA27 |title=The Exile Mission |access-date=14 June 2015 |isbn=9780821415269 |last1=Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann |first1=Anna D |year=2004 |publisher=Ohio University Press |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204064218/https://books.google.com/books?id=tNENuKhDGfwC&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Post-Partition Karachi also once had a sizable refugee community from post-revolutionary [[Religion:Iran|Iran]].<ref name="conflictedkarachi" />

===Religion===

{{bar box
|title=Religions in Karachi<ref name="cia-rel">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html#pk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613003300/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html#pk |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 June 2007 |title=Religions in Pakistan |website=The World Factbook |access-date=9 July 2013}}</ref><ref name="Curtis, Lisa 2009">Curtis, Lisa; Mullick, Haider (4 May 2009). "Reviving Pakistan's Pluralist Traditions to Fight Extremism". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 31 July 2011</ref><ref name="Religions 2010">a b c "Religions: Islam 95%, other (includes Christian and Hindu, 2% Ahmadiyyah ) 5%". CIA. The World Factbook on Pakistan. 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2010.</ref><ref># ^ International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore: "Have Pakistanis Forgotten Their Sufi Traditions?" by Rohan Bedi April 2006</ref>
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1='''Religions'''
|right1='''Percent'''
|float=right
|bars=
{{bar percent|[[Religion:Islam|Islam]]|Green|96.5}}
{{bar percent|Christianity|blue|2.5}}
{{bar percent|[[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]]|orange|0.86}}
{{bar percent|Others|purple|0.14}}
}}

[[File:Bahria Town Karachi Grand Mosque 2.jpg|thumb|With a capacity of 800,000 worshippers, Grand Jamia Mosque is the largest mosque in Pakistan and 3rd largest in the world.]]
[[File:PK Karachi asv2020-02 img40 StPatrick Cathedral.jpg|alt=|thumb|St. Patrick's Cathedral, built-in 1881, serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Karachi.]]
[[File:SWAMI NARAYAN TEMPLE HADDID UDDIN - panoramio - Haddid Uddin (1).jpg|alt=|thumb|upright|The Swaminarayan Temple is the largest Hindu temple in Karachi.]]
Karachi is a religiously homogeneous city with more than 96 per cent of its population adhering to Islam.<ref>Peter van der Veer: ''Handbook of Religion and the Asian City – Aspiration and Urbanization in the Twenty-First Century'', California University Press, 2015, {{ISBN|9780520961081}}, p. 388</ref> ''Karachiites'' adhere to numerous sects and sub-sects of [[Religion:Islam|Islam]], as well as Protestant Christianity, and community of Goan Catholics. The city also is home to large numbers of Hindus, and a small community of Zoroastrians and Parsi's. According to Nichola Khan Karachi is also the world's largest Muslim city.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cityscapes of Violence in Karachi: Publics and Counterpublics |first=Nichola |last=Khan |year=2016 |isbn=9780190869786 |publisher=Oxford University Press |quote=... With a population of over 23 million Karachi is also the world's largest Muslim city, the world's seventh-largest conurbation ...}}</ref> Prior to Pakistan's independence in 1947, the religious demographics of the city was estimated to be 51.1% Hindu, 42.3% Muslim, with the remaining 7% primarily Christians (both British and native), Sikhs, Jains, with a small number of Jews.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/7435/1/40138_1941_TAB.pdf |title=CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME XII SIND |access-date=15 September 2021 |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915220525/http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/7435/1/40138_1941_TAB.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Following the independence of Pakistan, the vast majority of Karachi's Sindhi Hindu population left for India while Muslim refugees from India, in turn, settled in the city. This mass migration dramatically changed the religious demographics of the city.

==== Islam ====
Karachi is overwhelmingly Muslim,<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> though the city is one of Pakistan's most secular cities.<ref name="autogenerated3" /><ref name="India Today" /><ref name="dw.com" /> Approximately 85% of Karachi's Muslims are Sunnis, while 15% are [[Religion:Shia Islam|Shi'ites]].<!--empty references<ref name="LoC" /><ref name="Oxford" /><ref name="CIA" />--><ref name="PRC">{{cite web |url=http://pewforum.org/Muslim/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population%286%29.aspx |title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population |access-date=28 August 2010 |publisher=Pew Research Center |date=7 October 2009 |archive-date=30 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830165222/http://pewforum.org/Muslim/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population(6).aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="PRCPDF">{{cite book |url=http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/Muslimpopulation/Muslimpopulation.pdf |title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population |editor-last=Miller |editor-first=Tracy |date=October 2009 |publisher=Pew Research Center |access-date=28 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091108194815/http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/Muslimpopulation/Muslimpopulation.pdf |archive-date=8 November 2009}}</ref><ref name="State">{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108505.htm |title=Pakistan – International Religious Freedom Report 2008 |date=19 September 2008 |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=28 August 2010 |archive-date=30 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530192532/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108505.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Sunnis primarily follow the Hanafi school of [[Social:Jurisprudence|jurisprudence]], with [[Religion:Sufism|Sufism]] influencing religious practices by encouraging reverence for Sufi saints such as Abdullah Shah Ghazi and Mewa Shah. [[Religion:Shia Islam|Shi'ites]] are predominantly [[Religion:Twelver|Twelver]], with a significant Ismaili minority which is further subdivided into Nizaris, Mustaalis, [[Religion:Dawoodi Bohra|Dawoodi Bohra]]s, and Sulaymanis. There are over 3000 mosques in Karachi, most famous of which include Grand Jamia Mosque, Baitul Mukarram Mosque, Masjid-e-Tooba and Memon Masjid.

==== Christianity ====

Approximately 2.5% of Karachi's population is Christian.<ref name="cia-rel" /><ref name="Curtis, Lisa 2009" /><ref name="Religions 2010" /> The city's Christian community is primarily composed of Punjabi Christians and a community of Goan Catholics who are typically better-educated and more affluent than their Punjabi co-religionists.<ref>{{cite news |title=Who are Pakistan's Christians? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35910331 |access-date=17 November 2016 |publisher=BBC |date=28 March 2016 |archive-date=20 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120050133/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35910331 |url-status=live }}</ref> They established the posh Cincinnatus Town in Garden East as a Goan enclave. The Goan community dates from 1820 and has a population estimated to be 12,000–15,000 strong.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barbosa |first1=Alexandre Moniz |title=A Dash of Goa in Pakistan |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/A-dash-of-Goa-in-Pakistan/articleshow/9866412.cms |access-date=17 November 2016 |work=The Times of India |date=5 September 2001 |quote=The city, however, has roughly between 12,000 and 15,000 'Goans', a number that has remained fairly constant for the past 190 years, since the first wave of migrating Goans in dhows washed up on its shores in 1820 and made it their home. |archive-date=19 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219113702/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/A-dash-of-Goa-in-Pakistan/articleshow/9866412.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> Karachi is served by its own archdiocese, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi.

==== Hinduism ====
[[File:Shri_Laxmi_Narayan_Mandir.JPG|thumb|Shri Laxmi Narayan Mandir]]
[[File:Karachi_Mandir.jpg|thumb|Shri Swami Narayan Mandir]]
While most of the city's Hindu population left ''en masse'' for India following Pakistan's independence, Karachi still has a large Hindu community with an estimated population of 250,000 based on 2013 data,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pakistanhinducouncil.org/hindupopulation.asp |title=Population of Hindus in the World |publisher=pakistanhinducouncil.org |access-date=21 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518031747/http://www.pakistanhinducouncil.org/hindupopulation.asp |archive-date=18 May 2013}}</ref> with several active temples in central Karachi. The Hindu community is split into a more affluent Sindhi Hindu and small Punjabi Hindu group that forms part of Karachi's educated middle class, while poorer Hindus of Rajasthani and Marwari descent form the other part and typically serve as menial and day laborers. Wealthier Hindus live primarily in Clifton and Saddar, while poorer ones live and have temples in Narayanpura and Lyari. Many streets in central Karachi still retain Hindu names, especially in Mithadar, Aram Bagh (formerly Ram Bagh), and Ramswami. Many Mandirs exist in Saddar which are over a 100 years old.

==== Zoroastrianism ====

Karachi's affluent and influential Parsis have lived in the region in the 12th century, though the modern community dates from the mid 19th century when they served as military contractors and commissariat agents to the British.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinnells |first1=John |title=The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-151350-3 |page=199 |date=28 April 2005}}</ref> Further waves of Parsi immigrants from Persia settled in the city in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinnells |first1=John |title=The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-151350-3 |page=202 |date=28 April 2005}}</ref> The population of Parsis in Karachi and throughout South Asia is in continuous decline due to low birth-rates and migration to Western countries.<ref>{{cite news |title=Why is India's wealthy Parsi community vanishing? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35219331 |access-date=17 November 2016 |publisher=BBC |date=9 January 2016 |archive-date=20 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120095149/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35219331 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2019, according to Framji Minwalla, approximately 1,092 Parsis are left in Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/464419-two-decades-from-now-pakistan-will-have-no-parsis |title=Two decades from now, Pakistan will have no Parsis |access-date=22 May 2020 |archive-date=6 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506025559/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/464419-two-decades-from-now-pakistan-will-have-no-parsis |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Transportation==

===Road===

Karachi is served by a road network estimated to be approximately {{convert|15500|km|abbr=off}} in length,<ref>{{cite news |title=In Karachi, 16,562 more vehicles hit the roads each month |url=http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/12/24/city/karachi/in-karachi-16562-more-vehicles-hit-the-roads-each-month/ |access-date=25 November 2016 |work=Pakistan Today |date=24 December 2011 |archive-date=26 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126174305/http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/12/24/city/karachi/in-karachi-16562-more-vehicles-hit-the-roads-each-month/ |url-status=live }}</ref> serving approximately 5&nbsp;million vehicles per day.

Karachi is served by 6 Signal-Free Corridors which are designed as urban express roads to permit traffic to transverse large distances without the need to stop at intersections and stoplights. The {{cvt|16|km|mi|frac=2}} Karsaz Road connects {{wipe|Pakistan Air Force Museum}} in central Karachi to SITE Industrial Area. The Rashid Minhas Road connects Surjani Town with Shah Faisal Town over a 20&nbsp;km span. The {{cvt|19|km|mi|frac=2}} University Road connects Karachi's urban centre to the Gulistan-e-Johar suburb. The {{cvt|18|km|mi|frac=2}} Shahrah-e-Faisal connects Karachi's Sadar area to the Jinnah International Airport. The {{cvt|18|km|mi|frac=2}} Shahrah-e-Pakistan connects city centre to Federal B. Area. The {{cvt|18|km|mi|frac=2}} Sher Shah Suri Road connects the city centre to Nazimabad.

The Lyari Expressway is a 16&nbsp;km controlled-access highway along the Lyari River. This toll highway is designed to relieve congestion within the city. To the north of Karachi lies the 39&nbsp;km Karachi Northern Bypass (M10), which bypasses the city to connect the M-9 Motorway to the N25 National Highway. A {{cvt|39|km|mi|frac=2}} Malir Expressway is under construction along the Malir River. It will link Karachi's DHA to Karachi's Malir Town and terminate at Kathore on the M-9 motorway.

Karachi is the terminus of the M-9 motorway, which connects Karachi to Hyderabad. The M-9 motorway is part of a larger countrywide motorways network, many of which were built through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project. From Hyderabad, motorways provide high-speed road access to all major Pakistani cities, including Peshawar, [[Place:Islamabad|Islamabad]], Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad.

Karachi is also the terminus of the N-5 National Highway which connects the city to the historic medieval capital of Sindh, Thatta. It offers further connections to northern Pakistan and the Afghan border near Torkham. The N-25 National Highway connects Karachi to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. The N-10 National Highway connects Karachi to the emerging port city of Gwadar.

===Rail===


Karachi is linked by rail to the rest of the country by Pakistan Railways. The Karachi City Station and Karachi Cantonment Railway Station are the city's two major railway stations.<ref name="nadeemf.paracha" /> The city has an international rail link, the Thar Express which links Karachi Cantonment Station with Bhagat Ki Kothi station in Jodhpur, India.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geo.tv/12-4-2010/75294.htm |title=Thar Express escapes blast near Karachi |publisher=GEO.tv |date=4 December 2010 |access-date=21 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105192658/http://www.geo.tv/12-4-2010/75294.htm |archive-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>

The railway system also handles freight linking Karachi port to destinations up-country in northern Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/31-Dec-2015/railways-to-upgrade-waiting-halls-at-16-major-stations |title=Railways to upgrade waiting halls at 16 major stations |website=Daily Times |access-date=25 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302181953/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/31-Dec-2015/railways-to-upgrade-waiting-halls-at-16-major-stations |archive-date=2 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The city is the terminus for the Main Line-1 Railway which connects Karachi to Peshawar. Pakistan's rail network, including the Main Line-1 Railway is being upgraded as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, allowing trains to depart Karachi and travel on Pakistani railways at an average speed of {{cvt|160|km/h|-1}} versus the current average speed of {{cvt|80|km/h|round=5}}.<ref>{{cite news |title=Karachi-Peshawar railway line being upgraded under CPEC |url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/22-Jan-2016/karachi-peshawar-railway-line-being-upgraded-under-cpec |access-date=10 February 2016 |work=Daily Times |date=22 January 2016 |archive-date=10 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810012047/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/22-Jan-2016/karachi-peshawar-railway-line-being-upgraded-under-cpec |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Public transport===
====Metrobus====
[[File:Greenline Station Karachi.jpg|thumb|right|A Green line Station]]
The Pakistani Government is developing the Karachi Metrobus project, which is a 6-line {{convert|150|km|mi|frac=4|abbr=off|adj=on}} [[Engineering:Bus rapid transit|bus rapid transit]] system.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karachi Breeze – The Journey of Convenience Comfort and Reliability |url=https://breezekarachi.com/ |access-date=13 September 2022 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920172725/https://breezekarachi.com/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Metrobus project was inaugurated by then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 25 February 2016. Sharif said the "project will be more beautiful than Lahore Metro Bus".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1241849 |title=Karachi's Green Line bus will be more beautiful than Lahore metro: PM Nawaz |date=26 February 2016 |newspaper=Dawn |location=Pakistan |access-date=25 February 2017 |archive-date=26 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226050047/https://www.dawn.com/news/1241849 |url-status=live }}</ref> Orange and Green Lines are operational while Red-Line is underconstruction.

====People's Bus Service====
[[File:Peoples Bus Service (Red) Karachi.jpg|thumb|Peoples Bus Service (Red)]]
[[File:Peoples Bus Service (Pink) Karachi.jpg|thumb|Peoples Bus Service (Pink)]]

In 2022, provincial government launched Peoples Bus Service having fleet size of 100+ which run on 12 different routes on nominal fare. The buses are air-conditioned, have wifi, have priority seeting for disabled and elderly and are wheelchair accessible.

Red buses are for general public. Pink buses are for women only. White buses are environment friendly electric buses having designated charging points.

====Karachi Circular Railway====
Karachi Circular Railway is a partially active regional [[Engineering:Public transport|public transit system]] in Karachi, which serves the Karachi metropolitan area. KCR was fully operational between 1969 and 1999. Since 2001, restoration of the railway and restarting the system had been sought.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nation.com.pk/10-Aug-2020/chairman-railways-visits-kcr-track |title=Chairman Railways visits KCR track |date=10 August 2020 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=14 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114150332/https://nation.com.pk/10-Aug-2020/chairman-railways-visits-kcr-track |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2260409/supreme-court-gives-four-more-months-to-overhaul-railways |title=Supreme Court gives four more months to overhaul railways |date=20 August 2020 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=20 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820124938/https://tribune.com.pk/story/2260409/supreme-court-gives-four-more-months-to-overhaul-railways |url-status=live }}</ref> In November 2020, the KCR partially revived operations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1591237/karachi-circular-railway-begins-partial-operations-today |title=Karachi Circular Railway begins partial operations |date=19 November 2020 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814091641/https://www.dawn.com/news/1591237/karachi-circular-railway-begins-partial-operations-today |url-status=live }}</ref>

KCR was included in CPEC by Shehbaz Sharif and construction started in 2022. Existing 43&nbsp;km KCR track and stations would be completely rebuilt into automated rapid transit system with [[Engineering:Electric locomotive|electric trains]]. The route would not be changed however many underpasses and bridges would be built along the route to eliminate 22-level crossings. New KCR would be similar to Lahore's Orange Train. New KCR would have joint stations with Karachi Metrobus at points of intersection. Project would be operational by 2025.

With its hub at Karachi City station on I. I. Chundrigar Road, KCR will connect the city centre with several industrial, commercial and residential districts within the city.<ref name="Railway Technology">{{cite web |url=http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/karachicircularrailw/ |title=Karachi Circular Railway Revival, Pakistan |publisher=railway-technology.com |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-date=7 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007082233/http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/karachicircularrailw/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Tramway service====
A tramway service was started in 1884 in Karachi but was closed in 1975.<ref>{{cite news |title=OLMT project to face further delay |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/1941286/1-olmt-project-face-delay/ |access-date=2 April 2019 |work=The Express Tribune |author=Adnan, Imran |date=1 April 2019 |quote=As per the direction of the apex court, he said, the civil works of the project will be completed by end of July 2019. But the project will not enter into commercial operations by August or November 2019. |archive-date=12 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712160317/https://tribune.com.pk/story/1941286/1-olmt-project-face-delay/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Manufacturing of orange trains starts, says Kh Hassan |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/122738-Manufacturing-of-orange-trains-starts-says-Kh-Hassan |access-date=24 January 2017 |agency=The News |date=26 May 2016 |quote=Latest technology will be employed for fabricating these trains and the rolling-stock will be fully computerised, automatic and driverless. |archive-date=2 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202020211/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/122738-Manufacturing-of-orange-trains-starts-says-Kh-Hassan |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the revival of tramway service is proposed by Karachi Administrator Iftikhar Ali. Turkey has offered assistance in the revival and launching modern tramway service in Karachi.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2264436/turkey-offers-help-in-bringing-iconic-tram-service-back-to-karachi?amp=1 |title=Turkey offers help in bringing iconic tram service back to Karachi |date=17 September 2020 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=28 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828142222/https://tribune.com.pk/story/2264436/turkey-offers-help-in-bringing-iconic-tram-service-back-to-karachi?amp=1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Air===
Karachi's Jinnah International Airport is the busiest airport of Pakistan with a total of 7.2&nbsp;million passengers in 2018. The current terminal structure was built in 1992, and is divided into international and domestic sections. Karachi's airport serves as a hub for the flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), as well as for Air Indus, Serene Air and airblue. The airport offers non-stop flights to destinations throughout East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf States, Europe and North America.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.piac.com.pk/schedule/display_abc.asp?date=3:16:07+AM |title=Pakistan International Airlines – Pakistan International Airlines – PIA |website=piac.com.pk}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="PKint">{{Cite web |url=https://www.piac.com.pk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726225316/http://www.piac.com.pk/PIA_About/intnetwork.asp |url-status=dead |title=Pakistan International Airlines – Pakistan International Airlines – PIA |archive-date=26 July 2014 |website=www.piac.com.pk}}</ref>

===Sea===
The largest shipping ports in Pakistan are the Port of Karachi and the nearby Port Qasim, the former being the oldest port of Pakistan. Port Qasim is located {{convert|35|km|abbr=off}} east of the Port of Karachi on the Indus River estuary. These ports handle 95% of Pakistan's trade cargo to and from foreign ports. These seaports have modern facilities which include bulk handling, containers and oil terminals.{{sfn|Robert Stimson|Kingsley E. Haynes|2012|p=43}} The ports are part of the Maritime Silk Road.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The new Silk Road and the Sea |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/107317-The-new-Silk-Road-and-the-Sea |access-date=3 October 2021 |website=www.thenews.com.pk |archive-date=27 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027070721/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/107317-The-new-Silk-Road-and-the-Sea |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Civic administration==


===City government===


Karachi has a fragmented system of civic government. The urban area is divided into six District Municipal Corporations: Karachi East, Karachi West, Karachi Central, Karachi South, Malir, Korangi. Each district is further divided into between 22 and 42 Union Committees. Each Union Committee is represented by seven elected representatives, four of whom can be general candidates of any background; the other three seats are reserved for women, religious minorities, and a union representative or peasant farmer.

Karachi's urban area also includes six cantonments, which are administered directly by the Pakistani military, and include some of Karachi's most desirable real-estate.

Key civic bodies, such as the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and KBCA (Karachi Building Control Authority), among others, are under the direct control of the Government of Sindh.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1225311 |title=Sindh govt takes away key municipal function from local bodies |last=Azfar-ul-Ashfaque |date=10 December 2015 |website=Dawn |location=Pakistan |access-date=6 April 2020 |archive-date=6 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406234255/https://www.dawn.com/news/1225311 |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, Karachi's city-planning authority for undeveloped land, the Karachi Development Authority, is under control of the government, while two new city-planning authorities, the Lyari Development Authority and Malir Development Authority were revived by the Pakistan Peoples Party government in 2011{{snd}}allegedly to patronize their electoral allies and voting banks.<ref name=":02" />

====Historical background====

In response to a cholera epidemic in 1846, the Karachi Conservancy Board was organized by British administrators to control its spread.<ref name=cdgkhistory>{{cite web |url=http://221.132.118.186/cdgk/Home/Government/CDGKHistory/tabid/276/Default.aspx |title=CDGK History |publisher=City-District Government of Karachi |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417020709/http://221.132.118.186/cdgk/Home/Government/CDGKHistory/tabid/276/Default.aspx |archive-date=17 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Culture, Religion and Lifestyle in Karachi |website=Karachi History |date=14 August 2001 |url=http://www.karachi.com/v/history/ |access-date=5 August 2017 |archive-date=6 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806020334/http://www.karachi.com/v/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The board became the Karachi Municipal Commission in 1852, and the Karachi Municipal Committee the following year.<ref name=cdgkhistory /> The City of Karachi Municipal Act of 1933 transformed the city administration into the Karachi Municipal Corporation with a mayor, a deputy mayor and 57 councillors.<ref name=cdgkhistory /> In 1976, the body became the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.<ref name=cdgkhistory />

During the 1900s, Karachi saw its major beautification project under the mayoralty of Harchandrai Vishandas. New roads, parks, residential, and recreational areas were developed as part of this project. In 1948, the Federal Capital Territory of Pakistan was created, comprising approximately {{cvt|2103|km2}} of Karachi and surrounding areas, but this was merged into the province of West Pakistan in 1959.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.statoids.com/upk.html |title=Pakistan Provinces |publisher=Statoids.com |access-date=24 August 2010 |archive-date=29 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729165316/http://www.statoids.com/upk.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1960, Karachi and Lasbela District merged to create Karachi-Bela Division. In 1972, Lasbela District transferred to Kalat division and Karachi metropolitan area was divided into three (03) districts East, West and South. In 1996, again the Karachi metropolitan area was divided into More two (02) districts Central and Malir, each with its own municipal corporation.<ref name=cdgkhistory />

====Union councils (2001–11)====
[[File:Naimatullah Khan (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Given the honorary title "Father of Service", Naimatullah Khan Advocate (2001–2005) was one of the most successful and respected mayors Karachi ever had.]]
In 2001, during the rule of General Pervez Musharraf, five districts of Karachi were merged to form the city district of Karachi, with a three-tier structure. The two most local tiers are composed of 18 towns, and 178 union councils.<ref name=tiers>{{cite web |url=http://221.132.118.186/cdgk/Home/Towns/tabid/72/Default.aspx |title=CDGK Towns |publisher=City District Government of Karachi |access-date=24 August 2010}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Each tier focused on elected councils with some common members to provide "vertical linkage" within the federation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nrb.gov.pk/local_government/default.asp |title=Local Government |publisher=National Reconstruction Bureau, Government of Pakistan |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125014524/http://nrb.gov.pk/local_government/default.asp |archive-date=25 January 2009}}</ref>

Naimatullah Khan was the first Nazim of Karachi during the Union Council period, while Shafiq-Ur-Rehman Paracha was the first district coordination officer of Karachi. Syed Mustafa Kamal was elected City Nazim of Karachi to succeed Naimatullah Khan in 2005 elections, and Nasreen Jalil was elected as the City Naib Nazim.

Each Union Council had thirteen members elected from specified electorates: four men and two women elected directly by the general population; two men and two women elected by peasants and workers; one member for minority communities; two members are elected jointly as the Union Mayor (''Nazim'') and Deputy Union Mayor (''Naib Nazim'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nrb.gov.pk/local_government/union_admin_07.htm |title=Composition of the Union Council |publisher=National Reconstruction Bureau, Government of Pakistan |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110803101846/http://www.nrb.gov.pk/local_government/union_admin_07.htm |archive-date=3 August 2011}}</ref> Each council included up to three council secretaries and a number of other civil servants. The Union Council system was dismantled in 2011.

====District Municipal Corporations (2011–present)====

In July 2011, city district government of Karachi was reverted its original constituent units known as District Municipal Corporations (DMC). The five original DMCs are: Karachi East, Karachi West, Karachi Central, Karachi South and Malir. In November 2013, a sixth DMC, Korangi District was carved out from District East.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1054395 |title=Korangi notified as sixth district of Karachi |first=Hasan |last=Mansoor |date=6 November 2013 |website=DAWN.COM |access-date=6 May 2014 |archive-date=6 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506112833/http://www.dawn.com/news/1054395 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/378585-former-un-staffer-being-tipped-as-pm-s-focal-person-for-polio |title=Former UN staffer being tipped as PM's focal person for polio |website=www.thenews.com.pk |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802203309/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/378585-former-un-staffer-being-tipped-as-pm-s-focal-person-for-polio |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/07/11/sindh-back-to-5-divisions-after-11-years/ |title=Sindh back to 5 divisions after 11 years – Pakistan Today |website=www.pakistantoday.com.pk |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714061324/https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/07/11/sindh-back-to-5-divisions-after-11-years/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Aligi |first=Irfan |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/208342/changing-hands-karachi-split-into-5-districts/ |title=Changing hands: Karachi split into 5 districts |website=The Express Tribune |date=12 July 2011 |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=17 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117074148/http://tribune.com.pk/story/208342/changing-hands-karachi-split-into-5-districts/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://kmc.gov.pk.sv2.premiumwebserver.com/ |title=Welcome to official website of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation |publisher=Kmc.gov.pk.sv2.premiumwebserver.com |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-date=30 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230234919/http://kmc.gov.pk.sv2.premiumwebserver.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2020, Sindh cabinet approves formation of the seventh district in Karachi (Keamari District), Keamari District was formed by splitting District West.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1575785/new-district-in-karachi, |title=New district in Karachi |date=22 August 2020 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=28 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828142224/https://www.dawn.com/news/1575785/new-district-in-karachi, |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.samaa.tv/news/2020/08/karachi-fits-seventh-district-into-its-mix-keamari/, |title=Karachi fits seventh district into its mix – Keamari}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/703699-kemari-becomes-karachi-s-seventh-district, |title=Kemari becomes Karachi's seventh district |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=28 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828142224/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/703699-kemari-becomes-karachi-s-seventh-district, |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pressreader.com/bahrain/gulf-today/20200822/281779926499237, |title=Keamari is now 7th district of Karachi city}}</ref>

The committees for each district devise and enforce land-use and zoning regulations within their district. Each committee also manages water supply, sewage, and roads (except for 28 main arteries, which are managed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation).<ref name=":11" /> Street lighting, traffic planning, markets regulations, and signage are also under the control of the DMCs. Each DMC also maintains its own municipal record archive, and devises its own local budget.<ref name=":11" />

Municipal Administration of Karachi is also run by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), which is responsible for the development and maintenance of main arteries, bridges, drains, several hospitals, beaches, solid waste management, as well as some parks, and the city's firefighting services.<ref>{{Cite web |title=KMC Function |url=http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=133 |website=www.kmc.gos.pk |access-date=5 May 2020 |archive-date=1 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501220454/http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=133 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Between 2016 till 2020 the mayor of Karachi was Waseem Akhtar (2016-2020), with Arshad Hassan serving as Deputy Mayor; both served as part of the KMC. The Administrator of Karachi is Syed Saif-ur-Rehman as of 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Metropolitan Commissioner |url=http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=54 |website=www.kmc.gos.pk |access-date=5 May 2020 |archive-date=1 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501220554/http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=54 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2023, Murtaza Wahab of PPP was elected the mayor of Karachi.<ref name="dawn"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Desk |first=BR Web |date=15 June 2023 |title=JI rejects Karachi mayor election results, announces 'black day' on Friday |url=https://www.brecorder.com/news/40247971 |access-date=15 June 2023 |website=Brecorder |archive-date=15 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615123444/https://www.brecorder.com/news/40247971 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The position of Commissioner of Karachi was created, with Iftikhar Ali Shallwani serving this role.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meet-Commissioner Karachi Division |website=commissionerkarachi.gos.pk |url=https://commissionerkarachi.gos.pk/meetcommissioner.html |access-date=5 May 2020 |archive-date=5 May 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505003051/http://www.commissionerkarachi.gos.pk/meetcommissioner.html}}</ref> There are six military cantonments, which are administered by the Pakistani Army, and are some of Karachi's most upscale neighbourhoods.

===City planning===

The Karachi Development Authority (KDA), along with the Lyari Development Authority (LDA) and Malir Development Authority (MDA), is responsible for the development of most undeveloped land around Karachi. KDA came into existence in 1957 with the task of managing land around Karachi, while the LDA and MDA were formed in 1993 and 1994, respectively. KDA under the control of Karachi's local government and mayor in 2001, while the LDA and MDA were abolished. KDA was later placed under the direct control of the Government of Sindh in 2011. The LDA and MDA were also revived by the Pakistan Peoples Party government at the time, allegedly to patronize their electoral allies and voting banks.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Hasan |first=Arif |title=Land ownership, control and contestation in Karachi and implications for low-income housing |url=https://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10625IIED.pdf |journal=International Institute for Environment and Development United Nations Population Fund |access-date=6 April 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803054815/https://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10625IIED.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> City-planning in Karachi, therefore, is not locally directed but is instead controlled at the provincial level.

Each District Municipal Corporation regulate land-use in developed areas, while the Sindh Building Control Authority ensures that building construction is in accordance with building & town planning regulations. Cantonment areas, and the Defence Housing Authority are administered and planned by the military.

==Municipal services==
===Water===

Municipal water supplies are managed by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB), which supplies 640&nbsp;million gallons daily (MGD) to the city (excluding the city's steel mills and Port Qasim), of which 440 MGD are filtered/treated.<ref name=":11" /> Most of the supply comes from the Indus River, and 90 MGD from the Hub Dam.<ref name=":11" /> Karachi's water supply is transported to the city through a complex network of canals, conduits, and siphons, with the aid of pumping and filtration stations.<ref name=":11" /> 80% of Karachi households have access to piped water {{as of|2022|lc=y}},<ref name="SPDC"/> with private water tankers supplying much of the water required in informal settlements.<ref name=wb/> 15% of residents in a 2022 survey rated their water supply as "bad" or "very bad", while 40% expressed concern at the stability of water supply.<ref name="SPDC"/> By 2022, an estimated 35,000 people were dying due to water-borne diseases annually.{{sfn|Yamini Narayanan|2015|p=165}}

The '''K-IV water project''' is under development at a cost of $876&nbsp;million. It would connect Keenjhar Lake to Karachi hence eradicating water scarcity in eastern and northern parts of the city. It is expected to supply 650&nbsp;million gallons daily of potable water to the city, the first phase 260&nbsp;million gallons upon completion.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pakistan to award Karachi water supply project to Frontier Works Organisation |url=http://www.water-technology.net/news/newspakistan-to-award-karachi-water-supply-project-to-frontier-works-organisation-4810766/ |access-date=29 November 2017 |agency=Water Technology |date=15 February 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041215/http://www.water-technology.net/news/newspakistan-to-award-karachi-water-supply-project-to-frontier-works-organisation-4810766/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ist phase of K-IV project to be completed in June: Gov |url=http://nation.com.pk/22-Nov-2017/ist-phase-of-k-iv-project-to-be-completed-in-june-gov |access-date=29 November 2017 |work=The Nation |date=22 November 2017 |archive-date=28 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128205355/http://nation.com.pk/22-Nov-2017/ist-phase-of-k-iv-project-to-be-completed-in-june-gov |url-status=live }}</ref>

Desalination plants are also planned to be built on Arabian Sea coast on western side of Karachi in near future. These would resolve water scarcity issues in western parts of the city including SITE Area, Shershah and Orangi Town.

===Sanitation===

98% of Karachi's households are connected to the city's underground public sewerage system,<ref name="SPDC"/> largely operated by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB). The KW&SB operates 150 pumping stations, 25 bulk reservoirs, over 10,000 kilometres of pipes, and 250,000 manholes.<ref name=":11" /> The city generates approximately 472&nbsp;million gallons daily (MGD) of sewage, of which 417 MGD are discharged without treatment.<ref name=":11" /> KW&SB has the optimum capacity to treat up to 150 MGD of sewage, but uses only about 50 MGD of this capacity.<ref name=":11" /> Three treatment plants are available, in SITE Town (Gutter Baghicha), Mehmoodabad, and Mauripur.<ref name=":11" /> 75% reported in 2022 that Karachi's drainage system overflows or backs up,<ref name="SPDC" /> the highest percentage of all major Pakistani cities.<ref name="SPDC" /> Parts of the city's drainage system overflow on average 2–7 times per month, flooding some city streets.<ref name="SPDC" />

Households in Orangi self-organized to set-up their own sewerage system under the '''[[Engineering:Orangi Pilot Project|Orangi Pilot Project]]''',<ref name="sewer" /> a community service organization founded in 1980. 90% of Orangi streets are now connected to a sewer system built by local residents under the Orangi Pilot Project.<ref name="sewer" /> Residents of individual streets bear the cost of sewerage pipes, and provide volunteer labour to lay the pipe.<ref name="sewer" /> Residents also maintain the sewer pipes,<ref name="sewer" /> while the city municipal administration has built several primary and secondary pipes for the network.<ref name="sewer" /> As a result of OPP, 96% of Orangi residents have access to a latrine.<ref name="sewer" />

The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) is responsible for the collection and disposal of solid waste, not only in Karachi but throughout the whole province. Karachi has the highest percentage of residents in Pakistan who report that their streets are never cleaned{{snd}}42% of residents in Karachi report their streets are never cleaned, compared to 10% of residents in Lahore.<ref name="SPDC"/> Only 17% of Karachi residents reporting daily street cleaning, compared to 45%
in Lahore.<ref name="SPDC">{{cite web |url=http://www.spdc.org.pk/Data/Publication/PDF/AR2014-15.pdf |title=SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTAN ANNUAL REVIEW 2014–15 |year=2016 |publisher=SOCIAL POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE |access-date=28 November 2017 |archive-date=5 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405051228/https://www.spdc.org.pk/Data/Publication/PDF/AR2014-15.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> 69% of Karachi residents rely on private garbage collection services,<ref name="SPDC"/> with only 15% relying on municipal garbage collection services.<ref name="SPDC"/> 53% of Karachi residents in a 2022 survey reported that the state of their neighbourhood's cleanliness was either "bad" or "very bad".<ref name="SPDC"/> compared to 35% in Lahore,<ref name="SPDC"/> and 16% in Multan.<ref name="SPDC"/>

===Electricity===
The one and only electricity providing company in Karachi is K-Electric. It was government owned but was privatised in 2019. Government still has some shares. However HUBCO is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) that owns few major powerplants.

Karachi mostly gets electricity from oil, gas and coal powerplants established either on western coastline or Port Qasim Industrial Zone. Most recently built coal powerplants were the 1320MW Port Qasim Powerplant and the 1320MW Hub Coal Powerplant. 3 Nuclear Powerplants on western coastline namely KANUPP (K-1, K-2, K-3) also feed Karachi. Jhimpir, a nearby town has Wind Powerplants of more than 1000MW. This capacity is going to increase in future expansions. Solar Parks are envisioned to be established on western coastline having a starting generation of 1000MW.

75% of Karachi receives uninterrupted power supply almost throughout the year. 25% areas including industrial areas suffer with up to 6 hours of [[Engineering:Power outage|power outage]]s everyday due to energy generation deficit. Power outages increase further in Peak-summer and [[Earth:Monsoon|Monsoon]] season (May to August). Many [[Engineering:Slum|slum]]s and unregulated areas are not yet electrified hence they indulge in electricity theft which is locally called Kunda-System.

===Police, Ambulance, Firefighting===
Police is under the control of provincial government and city government has no authority over it. Ambulance is run by private hospitals or NGOs, the most famous of which are Edhi, Chhipa and JDC. Firefighting is under control of local government and has enough firefighters and vehicles to work quickly during fire.

==Education==

[[File:Bvs 608.jpg|right|thumb|Bai Virbaijee Soparivala (B.V.S.) Parsi High School]]
[[File:FAST-NU Karachi.jpg|thumb|FAST NUCES Karachi campus]]
===Districts literacy rate (10 years and above)===
According to 2017 Census of Pakistan, '''Central''' is the most literate district among all the districts of Karachi and Sindh. Following is the literacy rate of 10 years and above population of the six districts of Karachi:
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
|-
!|Rank
!|District
!|Literate Population % (2017 census)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/census-2017-district-wise |title=District Wise Results (Census - 2017) |publisher=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics |access-date=17 September 2022 |archive-date=9 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709095008/https://www.pbs.gov.pk/census-2017-district-wise |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 1
! Central
|style="text-align: Center;"| 81.52%
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 2
! Korangi
|style="text-align: Center;"| 80.49%
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 3
! South
|style="text-align: Center;"| 77.79%
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 4
! East
|style="text-align: Center;"| 75.96%
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 5
! West <small>''(including Kemari)''</small>
|style="text-align: Center;"| 65.61%
|-
|style="text-align: left;"| 6
! Malir
|style="text-align: Center;"| 63.69%
|-
|}

===Primary and secondary===


Karachi's primary education system is divided into five levels: primary (grades one through five); [[Social:Middle school|middle]] (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School Certificate); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary School Certificate); and university programs leading to graduate and advanced degrees. Karachi has both public and private educational institutions. Most educational institutions are gender-based from primary to intermediate. Universities are mostly co-education.

Several of Karachi's schools, such as St Patrick's High School, St Joseph's Convent School and St Paul's English High School, are operated by Christian churches, and are among Pakistan's most prestigious schools.

===Higher===

[[File:DJCollegeKarachi.jpg|alt=|thumb|The D. J. Sindh Government Science College is one of Karachi's oldest universities and dates from 1887.]]
[[File:Silver Jubilee Gate Karachi University.jpg|thumb|Karachi University is the city's largest by number of students, number of departments & occupied land area.]]

Karachi is home to several major public universities. Karachi's first public university's date from the [[History:British Raj|British colonial]] era. The Sindh Madressatul Islam founded in 1885, was granted university status in 2012. Establishment of the Sindh Madressatul Islam was followed by the establishment of the D. J. Sindh Government Science College in 1887, and the institution was granted university status in 2014. The Nadirshaw Edulji Dinshaw University of Engineering and Technology (NED), was founded in 1921, and is Pakistan's oldest institution of higher learning. The [[Organization:Dow University of Health Sciences|Dow University of Health Sciences]] was established in 1945, and is now one of Pakistan's top medical research institutions.

The University of Karachi, founded in 1951, is Pakistan's largest university with a student population of 24,000. The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), founded in 1955, is the oldest business school outside of North America and Europe, and was set up with technical support from the Wharton School and the [[Organization:University of Southern California|University of Southern California]]. The Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, which opened in 1962, offers degree programmes in petroleum, gas, chemical, and industrial engineering. The Pakistan Navy Engineering College (PNEC), operated by the Pakistan Navy, is associated with the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad.

Karachi is also home to numerous private universities. The Aga Khan University, founded in 1983, is Karachi's oldest private educational institution, and is one of Pakistan's most prestigious medical schools. The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture was founded in 1989, and offers degree programmes in arts and architectural fields. Hamdard University is the largest private university in Pakistan with faculties including Eastern Medicine, Medical, Engineering, Pharmacy, and Law. The National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES-FAST), one of Pakistan's top universities in computer education, operates two campuses in Karachi. Bahria University (BU) founded in 2000, is one of the major general institutions of Pakistan with their campuses in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore offers degree programs in Management Sciences, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Psychology. Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) offers degree programmes in biomedical, electronics, telecom and computer engineering. Karachi Institute of Economics & Technology (KIET) has two campuses in Karachi. The Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), founded in 1995 by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, operates a campus in Karachi. Other names include:
* Iqra University
* Habib University
* [[Organization:Dow University of Health Sciences|Dow University]]
* Jinnah Medical and Dental College
* Jinnah Sindh Medical University
* Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology
* United Medical and Dental College
* Liaquat National Medical College
* Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP)
* Institute of Business Management (CBM)

==Healthcare==

<gallery mode="packed" widths="200">
File:Aga Khan University .jpg|Aga Khan University's hospital
File:Lady Dufferin Hospital- Virabijee Katrak Maternity Wing.jpg|Lady Dufferin Hospital
</gallery>

Karachi is a centre of research in biomedicine with at least 30 public hospitals, 80 registered private hospitals and 12 recognized medical colleges,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Establishment of a Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in Pakistan: Initial Experiences, Results, and Reflections |first1=M. Zubair |last1=Tahir |first2=Zain A. |last2=Sobani |first3=S. A. |last3=Quadri |first4=S. Nizam |last4=Ahmed |first5=Mughis |last5=Sheerani |first6=Fowzia |last6=Siddiqui |first7=Warren W. |last7=Boling |first8=Syed Ather |last8=Enam |date=12 February 2012 |journal=Epilepsy Res Treat |volume=2012 |doi=10.1155/2012/547382 |pmid=22957232 |pmc=3420664 |pages=547382 |doi-access=free}}</ref> including the Indus Hospital, Lady Dufferin Hospital, Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kihd.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506025000/http://www.kihd.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 May 2011 |title=Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD) |website=kihd.org |access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref> National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nicvd.org/ |title=National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases |website=nicvd.org |access-date=1 June 2016 |archive-date=31 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531031825/http://nicvd.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Civil Hospital,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chk.gov.pk/ |title=Civil Hospital Karachi |website=chk.gov.pk |access-date=1 June 2016 |archive-date=30 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430162451/http://chk.gov.pk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Combined Military Hospital,{{sfn|Issues in National, Regional, and Environmental Health and Medicine|2013}} PNS Rahat,{{sfn|Endocrine System Diseases: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional|2013}} PNS Shifa,{{sfn|Zohra Zaidi|S.W Lanigan|2010}} Aga Khan University Hospital, Liaquat National Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre,{{sfn|Mohammad Aslam Uqaili|Khanji Harijan|2011}} Holy Family Hospital{{sfn|Helen Renaux|2011}} and Ziauddin Hospital. In 1995, Ziauddin Hospital was the site of Pakistan's first bone marrow transplant.{{sfn|Kenneth D. Miller|Miklos Simon|2015}}

Karachi municipal authorities in 2017 launched a new early warning system that alerted city residents to a forecasted heatwave. Previous heatwaves had routinely claimed lives in the city, but implementation of the warning system was credited for no reported heat-related fatalities.<ref name="heatwave"/> During 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines were available in all major hospitals.

==Entertainment, tourism and culture==


===Shopping malls===

Karachi is home to Pakistan and South Asia's largest shopping mall, Lucky One Mall which hosts more than two hundred stores.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.lmkt.com/south-asias-largest-mall-lucky-one-selects-lmkt-to-deploy-gpon-solution/ |title=South Asia's largest mall, Lucky One selects LMKT to deploy GPON Solution – LMKT |date=18 January 2016 |work=LMKT |access-date=15 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808012831/https://www.lmkt.com/south-asias-largest-mall-lucky-one-selects-lmkt-to-deploy-gpon-solution/ |archive-date=8 August 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> According to TripAdvisor the city is also home to Pakistan's favorite shopping mall, Dolmen Mall, Clifton which was also featured on CNN.<ref>{{Citation |last=Pak Property Mela |title=Dolmen Mall Karachi by CNN |date=16 December 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MyQjqj--Xo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/6MyQjqj--Xo |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=15 November 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g293959-Activities-c26-Pakistan.html |title=THE BEST Shopping in Pakistan – TripAdvisor |website=tripadvisor.com |access-date=15 November 2018 |archive-date=16 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116085422/https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g293959-Activities-c26-Pakistan.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2023, another mega mall/entertainment complex named 'Mall of Karachi' situated at the bottom of Pakistan's tallest skyscraper Bahria Icon Tower will be opened.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/10/16/62-storey-bahria-town-icon-reaches-structural-completion/ |title=62-storey Bahria Town Icon reaches structural completion |website=Pakistan Today |date=16 October 2017 |access-date=15 November 2018 |archive-date=29 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829110035/https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/10/16/62-storey-bahria-town-icon-reaches-structural-completion/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bahriatown.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=405 |title=Bahria Town ICON – Bahria Town – Your Lifestyle Destination |last=toot |website=bahriatown.com |access-date=15 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116043315/http://www.bahriatown.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=405 |archive-date=16 November 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Museums and galleries===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Mohenjo-daro Priesterkönig.jpeg|The famous "Priest-King" statue of the Indus Valley civilization is displayed at Karachi's [[Organization:National Museum of Pakistan|National Museum of Pakistan]].
File:PK Karachi asv2020-02 img17 Mohatta Palace.jpg|Built as a home for a wealthy Hindu businessman, the Mohatta Palace is now a museum open to the public.
</gallery>

Karachi is home to several of Pakistan's most important museums. The [[Organization:National Museum of Pakistan|National Museum of Pakistan]] and Mohatta Palace display artwork, while the city also has several private art galleries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://theculturetrip.com/asia/pakistan/articles/10-stunning-contemporary-art-galleries-in-karachi-pakistan/ |title=10 Stunning Contemporary Art Galleries in Karachi, Pakistan |website=The Culture Trip |date=26 March 2014 |access-date=18 December 2015 |archive-date=21 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221031837/http://theculturetrip.com/asia/pakistan/articles/10-stunning-contemporary-art-galleries-in-karachi-pakistan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> There are also the Pakistan Airforce Museum, the Pakistan Maritime Museum and the country's first interactive science centre, the MagnifiScience Centre located in the city.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Azam |first1=Oonib |title=A praiseworthy endeavour to foster children's interest in science |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/900358-a-praiseworthy-endeavour-to-foster-children-s-interest-in-science |website=Dawn (newspaper) |access-date=15 April 2022 |date=15 October 2021 |archive-date=10 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410123157/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/900358-a-praiseworthy-endeavour-to-foster-children-s-interest-in-science |url-status=live }}</ref> Wazir Mansion, the birthplace of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah has also been preserved as a museum open to the public. Quaid-e-Azam House, the residence of Muhammad Ali Jinnah is also a museum which showcases his furniture and other belongings. Other museums include TDF Ghar and the State Bank of Pakistan Museum & Art Gallery.

===Theatre and cinema===

Karachi is home to some of Pakistan's important cultural institutions. The National Academy of Performing Arts,<ref name="napa">{{cite web |url=http://www.napa.org.pk/ |title=Welcome to National Academy of Performing Arts |publisher=National Academy of Performing Arts |access-date=17 April 2006 |archive-date=11 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060411143725/http://napa.org.pk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> located in the former Hindu Gymkhana, offers diploma courses in performing arts including classical music and contemporary theatre. Karachi is home to groups such as Thespianz Theater, a professional youth-based, non-profit performing arts group, which works on theatre and arts activities in Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pakistanbusinessjournal.com/b2b-directory/thespianz-theater_95750.html |title=Thespianz Theater |website=Pakistan Business Journal |access-date=18 December 2015 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222151516/http://www.pakistanbusinessjournal.com/b2b-directory/thespianz-theater_95750.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1134478 |title=Thespianz Theater brings string puppetry to PACC |department=Entertainment Desk |website=Dawn |date=26 September 2014 |access-date=18 December 2015 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222133322/http://www.dawn.com/news/1134478 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Though Lahore was considered to be home of Pakistan's film industry, Karachi is home to Urdu cinema and Kara Film Festival annually showcases independent Pakistani and international films and documentaries.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/951275/karawood-film-festival-to-kick-start-september-7/ |title=Karawood film festival to kick start September 7 |work=The Express Tribune |access-date=18 December 2015 |date=5 September 2015 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222114330/http://tribune.com.pk/story/951275/karawood-film-festival-to-kick-start-september-7/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Bambino Cinema, Capri Cinema, Cinepax Cinema, Cinegold Plex Cinema (Bahria Town), Mega Multiplex Cinema (Millennium Mall), Nueplex Cinema (Askari-4), Atrium Mall Cinema (Sadar) are some of the most popular cinemas in Karachi.

===Music===

The All Pakistan Music Conference, linked to the 45-year-old similar institution in Lahore, has been holding its annual music festival since its inception in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apmc.info/ |title=All Pakistan Music Conference &#124; Established in 1959 |publisher=All Pakistan Music Conference |access-date=10 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040205022516/http://apmc.info/ |archive-date=5 February 2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The National Arts Council (''Koocha-e-Saqafat'') has musical performances and mushaira.

==Social issues==
===Crime & Lawlessness===

Sometimes stated to be amongst the world's most dangerous cities,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Khan |first1=Taimur |title=Cooking in Karachi |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/09/03/cooking-in-karachi/ |access-date=6 December 2016 |date=9 September 2013 |archive-date=16 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216224650/http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/09/03/cooking-in-karachi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the extent of violent crime in Karachi is not as significant in magnitude as compared to other cities.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last1=Jaffrelot |first1=Christophe |title=The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-061330-3 |pages=672}}</ref> According to the Numbeo Crime Index 2014, Karachi was the 6th most dangerous city in the world. By the middle of 2016, Karachi's rank had dropped to 31 following the launch of anti-crime operations.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pakistan is winning its war on terror |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/pakistan-is-winning-its-war-on-terror/ |access-date=3 January 2017 |work=The Spectator |date=31 December 2016 |quote=Just three years ago, according to the Numbeo international crime index, Karachi was the sixth most dangerous city in the world. Today it stands at number 31 – and falling. |archive-date=2 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102063657/http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/pakistan-is-winning-its-war-on-terror/? |url-status=live }}</ref> By 2018, Karachi's ranking has dropped to 50.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/karachi-improves-ranking-on-international-crime-and-safety-index-2018/ |title=Karachi, the 6th most dangerous city in the world previously, has jumped to 50th place |work=Daily Pakistan Global |access-date=13 February 2018 |archive-date=13 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213080630/https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/karachi-improves-ranking-on-international-crime-and-safety-index-2018/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021, Karachi's ranking fell to 115. In 2022, the ranking fell further to 128th place, ranking Karachi safer than regional cities such as [[Place:Dhaka|Dhaka]] (56th place), Delhi (90th place), and Bangalore (122nd place).<ref>{{Cite web |department=News Desk |date=27 April 2021 |title=Karachi ranks 115 in global crime ranking after improved security situation |url=https://pakobserver.net/karachi-ranks-115-in-global-crime-ranking-after-improved-security-situation/ |access-date=2 May 2021 |website=Pakistan Observer |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502214935/https://pakobserver.net/karachi-ranks-115-in-global-crime-ranking-after-improved-security-situation/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The city's large population results in high numbers of homicides with a moderate homicide rate.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Karachi's homicide rates are lower than many Latin American cities,<ref name="ReferenceA" /> and in 2015 was 12.5 per 100,000<ref>{{cite news |title=Karachi world's 'most dangerous megacity': Report |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Karachi-worlds-most-dangerous-megacity-Report/articleshow/22437484.cms |access-date=6 December 2016 |work=The Times of India |date=9 September 2013 |archive-date=23 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323121057/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Karachi-worlds-most-dangerous-megacity-Report/articleshow/22437484.cms |url-status=live }}</ref>{{snd}}lower than the homicide rate of several American cities such as New Orleans and St. Louis.<ref name="businessinsider.com">{{cite news |title=The 50 most violent cities in the world |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/most-violent-cities-in-the-world-2016-1/#10-cali-colombia-had-6427-homicides-per-100000-residents-41 |access-date=6 December 2016 |work=Business Insider |date=26 January 2016 |archive-date=2 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202212612/http://www.businessinsider.com/most-violent-cities-in-the-world-2016-1/#10-cali-colombia-had-6427-homicides-per-100000-residents-41 |url-status=live }}</ref> The homicide rates in some Latin American cities such as [[Place:Caracas|Caracas]], Venezuela and Acapulco, Mexico are in excess of 100 per 100,000 residents,<ref name="businessinsider.com" /> many times greater than Karachi's homicide rate. In 2016, the number of murders in Karachi had dropped to 471, which had dropped further to 381 in 2017.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |url=https://thefrontierpost.com/karachi-killing-extortion-decreased-2017/ |title=Karachi: Killing, extortion decreased in 2017 – The Frontier Post |date=2 January 2018 |work=The Frontier Post |access-date=8 March 2018 |archive-date=8 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308103624/https://thefrontierpost.com/karachi-killing-extortion-decreased-2017/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Karachi was rocked by political conflict while crime rates drastically increased with the arrival of weaponry from the War in Afghanistan.<ref name="violentEnd" /> Several of Karachi's criminal mafias became powerful during a period in the 1990s described as "the rule of the mafias."{{sfn|Marcello Balbo|2005|p=181}} Major mafias active in the city included land mafia, water tanker mafia, transport mafia and a sand and gravel mafia.{{sfn|Newsline|2006}}{{sfn|Marcello Balbo|2005|p=181}}{{sfn|Mohammad Shahid Alam|1996|p=49}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1035362/fair-warning-kwsb-installations-at-risk-due-to-heavy-excavation-in-malir-river/ |title=Fair warning: KWSB installations at risk due to heavy excavation in Malir River |date=28 January 2016 |website=The Express Tribune |access-date=15 March 2016 |archive-date=16 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316092841/http://tribune.com.pk/story/1035362/fair-warning-kwsb-installations-at-risk-due-to-heavy-excavation-in-malir-river/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Karachi's highest death rates occurred in the mid-1990s. In 1995, 1,742 killings were recorded, with a maximum of 15 killings in a single day.<ref>{{cite news |title=Karachi target killings, highest in 15 years |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/69491/karachi-target-killings-highest-in-15-years/ |access-date=6 December 2016 |agency=The Express Tirbune |date=29 October 2010 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220084222/http://tribune.com.pk/story/69491/karachi-target-killings-highest-in-15-years/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>See Demographics section above.</ref>

====Karachi Operation by Pakistan Rangers====

Karachi had become widely known for its high rates of violent crime, but rates sharply decreased following a controversial crackdown operation against criminals, the MQM political party, and Islamist militants initiated in 2013 by the Pakistan Rangers.<ref name="New York TImes" /> In 2015, 1,040 Karachiites were killed in either acts of terror or other crime{{snd}}an almost 50% decrease from the 2,023 killed in 2014,<ref>{{cite news |title=In 2015, Karachi the most violent region of Pakistan |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/85793-In-2015-Karachi-the-most-violent-region-of-Pakistan |access-date=6 December 2016 |work=The News (Pakistan) |date=2 January 2016 |quote=With 1,040 deaths{{snd}}down from 2,023 in 2014{{snd}}recorded in Karachi this past year, the metropolis saw{{nbsp}}... |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220092923/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/85793-In-2015-Karachi-the-most-violent-region-of-Pakistan |url-status=live }}</ref> and an almost 70% decrease from the 3,251 recorded killed in 2013{{snd}}the highest ever recorded number in Karachi history.<ref>{{cite news |title=Death toll rises: Over 3,200 killings in Karachi make 2013 deadliest year so far |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/660098/death-toll-rises-over-3200-killings-in-karachi-make-2013-deadliest-year-so-far/ |access-date=6 December 2016 |work=The Tribune |date=18 January 2014 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220084048/http://tribune.com.pk/story/660098/death-toll-rises-over-3200-killings-in-karachi-make-2013-deadliest-year-so-far/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Violent crime like target killings, kidnappings for ransom or extortion, burning or torturing to death, drugs and weapons smugling decreased sharply after 2015. Street crime still remains high like snatching of cash, phones, motorcycles and cars on gunpoint.<ref>{{cite news |title=52,552 Karachiites fell victim to street crime in 2016 |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1244433/frightening-situation-52552-karachiites-fell-victim-street-crime-2016/ |access-date=6 December 2016 |work=The Express Tribune |archive-date=29 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129045026/http://tribune.com.pk/story/1244433/frightening-situation-52552-karachiites-fell-victim-street-crime-2016/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

With 650 homicides in 2015, Karachi's homicide rate decreased by 75% compared to 2013.<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/pakistan-realestate-idUSL8N15Q2GU |title=Karachi property prices soar after Pakistan crime crackdown |date=29 February 2016 |access-date=22 October 2016 |work=Reuters |quote=Recorded murders in Karachi fell to 650 last year, a 75 percent drop from 2013, while registered extortion was down 80 percent and kidnapping by nearly 90 percent, according to the CPLC, which collates official police data. |archive-date=22 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022215317/http://www.reuters.com/article/pakistan-realestate-idUSL8N15Q2GU |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2017, the number of homicides had dropped further to 381.<ref name="auto"/> Extortion crimes decreased by 80% between 2013 and 2015, while kidnappings decreased by 90% during the same period.<ref name="Reuters" /> By 2016, the city registered a total of 21 cases of kidnap for ransom.<ref>{{cite news |title=Karachi witnesses significant decrease in target killing, extortion cases in 2016 |url=http://dunyanews.tv/en/Crime/368050-Karachi-witnesses-significant-decrease-in-target-k |access-date=30 November 2017 |publisher=Dunya TV |date=31 December 2016 |archive-date=22 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222063156/http://dunyanews.tv/en/Crime/368050-Karachi-witnesses-significant-decrease-in-target-k |url-status=live }}</ref> Terrorist incidents dropped by 98% between 2012 and 2017, according to Pakistan's Interior Ministry.<ref>{{cite news |title=98pc drop in terrorism in Karachi, NAP implementation report shows |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/135955398pc |access-date=1 December 2017 |work=Dawn |date=23 September 2017}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> As a result of the Karachi's improved security environment, real-estate prices in Karachi rose sharply after 2015,<ref name="reuters.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/pakistan-realestate-idUSL8N15Q2GU |title=Karachi property prices soar after Pakistan crime crackdown |date=29 February 2016 |access-date=22 October 2016 |work=Reuters |quote=Karachi property prices jumped 23 percent last year to a record high, outpacing other large cities and the national average of 10 percent, data from property website Zameen.com showed. |archive-date=22 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022215317/http://www.reuters.com/article/pakistan-realestate-idUSL8N15Q2GU |url-status=live }}</ref> with a rise in business for upmarket restaurants and cafés.<ref>{{cite news |title=Despite rising economy, Pakistan still hampered by image problem leftright 4/4leftright |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-economy-idUSKCN0Z50XQ |access-date=5 December 2016 |work=Reuters |date=19 June 2016 |quote=A crime crackdown in Karachi, Pakistan's financial hub of 20 million people, has helped spur a real estate boom and new, upmarket seaside restaurants and cafés are overflowing.}}</ref>

===Ethnic & Linguistic conflict===

Insufficient affordable housing infrastructure to absorb growth has resulted in the city's diverse migrant populations being largely confined to ethnically homogeneous neighbourhoods.<ref name=wb/> The 1970s saw major labour struggles in Karachi's industrial estates. Violence originated in the city's university campuses, and spread into the city.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gayer |first1=Laurent |title=Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023806-3 |page=74<!-- |pages=256-->}}</ref> Conflict was especially sharp between MQM party and ethnic Sindhis, Pashtuns, and [[Social:Punjabis|Punjabis]]. The party and its vast network of supporters were targeted by Pakistani security forces as part of the controversial Operation Clean-up in 1992, as part of an effort to restore peace in the city that lasted until 1994. The ethnic conflicts kept going between linguistic groups till late 2010s and are no more extreme.

===Poor infrastructure===

Urban planning and service delivery have not kept pace with Karachi's growth, resulting in the city's low ranking on livability rankings.<ref name=wb/> The city has no cohesive transportation policy and inadequate transport, though up to 1,000 new vehicles are added daily to the city's congested streets.<ref name=wb/> Roads and streets are broken at many places but are not repaired in timely manner.

Unable to provide housing to large numbers of refugees shortly after independence, Karachi's authorities first issued "slips" to refugees beginning in 1950 –
which allowed refugees to settle on any vacant land.<ref name=sewer>{{cite news |title=Fed up with no sewers, Pakistan's slum residents go DIY |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-slums-pakistan-sewage/fed-up-with-no-sewers-pakistans-slum-residents-go-diy-idUSKCN12D1PK |access-date=29 November 2017 |work=Reuters |date=October 2016}}</ref> Such informal settlements are known as katchi abadis. Approximately half of Karachi's residents still live in these unplanned communities which have limited paved roads and limited utilities.<ref name=wb/>

===Pollution===
[[File:Karachi from above.jpg|thumb|Karachi from above]]
Air quality index is one of the worst in the world. Due to desert terrain, there is plenty of dust throughout the year except for rainy season. Vehicles and industries also contribute to air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. There is a lot of noise pollution due to traffic. Land pollution is due to solid trash not disposed to dedicated dumping sites. Trash is seen here and there and sometimes everywhere.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 November 2023 |title=Pakistan's Karachi is world's 3rd most polluted city. Officials' solution: Masks |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistans-karachi-is-worlds-3rd-most-polluted-city-officials-solution-masks-101701187764172.html |access-date=28 November 2023 |website=Hindustan Times }}</ref> Lastly there is water pollution in Lyari and Malir rivers as gutters directly open into these rivers. These rivers than directly go into Arabian sea untreated. So sewerage and industrial wastewater is directly being thrown into Indian Ocean hence polluting it and destroying marine life under the sea. 3 waste water treatment plants exist but are all dysfunctional.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 June 2021 |title=Govt to revive Karachi's three sewage treatment plants |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2304449/govt-to-revive-karachis-three-sewage-treatment-plants |access-date=28 November 2023 |website=The Express Tribune }}</ref>

===Urban flooding in monsoon season===
Size of Drainage system and storm water drains (locally known as Naalahs) in the city is not enough to handle the heavy rainfalls of monsoon. The drainage system and storm water drains are also filled with solid trash. When water finds no path, it enters streets, roads, underpasses and even houses during rainfall in July and August of every year. Major Naalahs like Orangi Naalah, Gujjar Naalah, Mehmoodabad Naalah are cleaned every year by government but are polluted by people the next day. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Ilyas |first=Faiza |date=8 July 2018 |title=Encroached drains, poor waste management put Karachi at risk of urban flooding |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1418576 |access-date=28 November 2023 |website=DAWN.COM }}</ref>

Flooding hinders connectivity of different areas of the city specially Landhi and Korangi. Floods have caused drown or electric shocks related deaths as well. <ref>{{Cite web |date=16 July 2023 |title=Karachi underwater |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2426524/karachi-underwater?amp=1 |access-date=28 November 2023 |website=The Express Tribune}}</ref>

==Architecture==
Karachi has a collection of buildings and structures of varied architectural styles. The downtown districts of Saddar and Clifton contain early 20th-century architecture, ranging in style from the [[History:Neoclassical architecture|neo-classical]] KPT building to the Sindh High Court Building. Karachi acquired its first neo-Gothic or Indo-Gothic buildings when Frere Hall, Empress Market and St. Patrick's Cathedral were completed. The Mock Tudor architectural style was introduced in the Karachi Gymkhana and the Boat Club. Neo-Renaissance architecture was popular in the 19th century and was the architectural style for St. Joseph's Convent (1870) and the Sind Club (1883).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historickarachi.com/heritage_revisited.htm |title=Heritage Revisited |publisher=Historickarachi.com |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822124715/http://www.historickarachi.com/heritage_revisited.htm |archive-date=22 August 2008}}</ref> The classical style made a comeback in the late 19th century, as seen in Lady Dufferin Hospital (1898)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historickarachi.com/public_arch_5.htm |title=Public Arch 5 |publisher=Historickarachi.com |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024103906/http://www.historickarachi.com/public_arch_5.htm |archive-date=24 October 2007}}</ref> and the Cantt. Railway Station. While Italianate buildings remained popular, an eclectic blend termed Indo-Saracenic or Anglo-Mughal began to emerge in some locations.{{sfn|Laurent Gayer|2014|pp=34}}
The local mercantile community began acquiring impressive structures. Zaibunnisa Street in the Saddar area (known as Elphinstone Street in British days) is an example where the mercantile groups adopted the Italianate and Indo-Saracenic style to demonstrate their familiarity with Western culture and their own. The Hindu Gymkhana (1925) and Mohatta Palace are examples of Mughal revival buildings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historickarachi.com/public_arch_1.htm |title=Public Architecture |publisher=Historickarachi.com |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415174246/http://www.historickarachi.com/public_arch_1.htm |archive-date=15 April 2008}}</ref> The Sindh Wildlife Conservation Building, located in Saddar, served as a Freemasonic Lodge until it was taken over by the government. There are talks of it being taken away from this custody and being renovated and the Lodge being preserved with its original woodwork and ornate wooden staircase.<ref name="Daily Times">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\09\30\story_30-9-2008_pg12_9 |title=Culture department takes notice of Freemason Lodge Building |website=Daily Times |access-date=16 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805231747/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C30%5Cstory_30-9-2008_pg12_9 |archive-date=5 August 2011}}</ref>

Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture is one of the prime examples of Architectural conservation and restoration where an entire Nusserwanjee building from Kharadar area of Karachi has been relocated to Clifton for adaptive reuse in an art school. The procedure involved the careful removal of each piece of timber and stone, stacked temporarily, loaded on the trucks for transportation to the Clifton site, unloaded and re-arranged according to a given layout, stone by stone, piece by piece, and completed within three months.<ref name="Indus Valley Website">{{cite web |url=http://www.indusvalley.edu.pk/nusserwanjeehistory.html |title=Nusserwanjee Building (Relocation) Project |website=Daily Times |access-date=26 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126022502/http://www.indusvalley.edu.pk/nusserwanjeehistory.html |archive-date=26 January 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Architecturally distinctive, even eccentric, buildings have sprung up throughout Karachi. Notable example of contemporary architecture include the Pakistan State Oil Headquarters building. The city has examples of modern Islamic architecture, including the Aga Khan University hospital, Grand Jamia Mosque, Masjid e Tooba, Faran Mosque, Baitul Mukarram Mosque, Quaid's Mausoleum, and the Textile Institute of Pakistan. One of the unique cultural elements of Karachi is that the residences, which are two- or three-story townhouses, are built with the front yard protected by a high brick wall. I. I. Chundrigar Road features a range of tall buildings. The most prominent examples include the Habib Bank Plaza, UBL Tower, PRC Towers, PNSC Building and MCB Tower.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcb.com.pk/mcb/mcb_tower.asp |title=MCB Tower, the tallest skyscraper of Karachi |publisher=Mcb.com.pk |access-date=6 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504064133/http://www.mcb.com.pk/mcb/mcb_tower.asp |archive-date=4 May 2009}}</ref> Newer skyscrapers are being built in Clifton. At least 50 150m+ buildings were underconstruction in 2022.

==Sports==

[[File:Sindh Cricket team match with Australia in 1935.jpg|thumb|left]]
[[File:Inside the National Stadium, Karachi 01.jpg|thumb|The National Stadium in Karachi]]

===Cricket===
Cricket's history in Pakistan predates the creation of the country in 1947. The first ever international cricket match in Karachi was held on 22 November 1935 between Sindh and Australian cricket teams. The match was seen by 5,000 Karachiites.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/ "Match against Sindh"]. ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 23 November 1935</ref> Karachi is also the place that innovated [[Engineering:Tape ball|tape ball]], a safer and more affordable alternative to cricket.<ref>{{Citation |last=Guardian Sport |title=Have you heard of Tape Ball cricket? |date=19 July 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV4fmG9-hlo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/sV4fmG9-hlo |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=23 July 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The inaugural first-class match at the National Stadium was played between Pakistan and India on 26 February 1955 and since then Pakistani national cricket team has won 20 of the 41 Test matches played at the National Stadium.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/22/1506_t.html |title=Test matches played on National Stadium, Karachi |publisher=Cricket Archive |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref> The first One Day International at the National Stadium was against the West Indies on 21 November 1980, with the match going to the last ball.

The national team has been less successful in such limited-overs matches at the ground, including a five-year stint between 1996 and 2001, when they failed to win any matches. The city has been host to a number of domestic cricket teams including Karachi,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Teams/0/846/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class matches played by Karachi |publisher=Cricket Archive |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref> Karachi Blues,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Teams/0/444/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class matches played by Karachi Blues |publisher=Cricket Archive |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref> Karachi Greens,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Teams/0/446/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class matches played by Karachi Greens |publisher=Cricket Archive |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref> and Karachi Whites.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Teams/0/445/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class matches played by Karachi Whites |publisher=Cricket Archive |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref> The National Stadium hosted two group matches (Pakistan v. South Africa on 29 February and Pakistan v. England on 3{{nbsp}}March), and a quarter-final match (South Africa v. West Indies on 11 March) during the 1996 Cricket World Cup.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/series/60981.html?template=fixtures |title=Fixtures |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=26 August 2010}}</ref>

Rafi Cricket Stadium under construction in Bahria Town would soon become the largest cricket stadium in Karachi with a capacity of 50,000+ spectators.

===Other sports===
When it comes to sports Karachi has a distinction, because some sources cite that it was in 1877 at Karachi in (British) India, where the first attempt was made to form a set of rules of badminton<ref>{{cite book |title=Better Badminton for All |url=https://archive.org/details/betterbadmintonf0000unse |url-access=registration |last=Downey |first=Jake |page=[https://archive.org/details/betterbadmintonf0000unse/page/13 13] |year=2003 |publisher=Pelham Books |isbn=978-0-7207-0228-6}}</ref> and likely place is said to be Frere Hall.

Karachi has hosted seven editions of the National Games of Pakistan, most recently in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Postal Code Karachi |url=https://hostrings.com/all-karachi-postal-code-zip-code-area-code/ |website=Karachi Postal Code List |publisher=Hostrings, Inc. (which owns "Hostrings.com")}}</ref>

In 2005, the city hosted the SAFF Championship at this ground, as well as the Geo Super Football League 2007, which attracted capacity crowds during the games. The popularity of golf is increasing, with clubs in Karachi like Dreamworld Resort, Bahria Town Golf Club, Hotel & Golf Club, Arabian Sea Country Club, DA Country & Golf Club. The city has facilities for field hockey (Hockey Club of Pakistan, UBL Hockey Ground), boxing (KPT Sports Complex), squash (Jahangir Khan Squash Complex), and polo. There are marinas and boating clubs. National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex is First-class cricket venue and Multi-purpose sports facility in Karachi.

;Professional teams of Karachi
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" |Club
! scope="col" |League
! scope="col" |Sport
! scope="col" |Venue
! scope="col" |Established
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |Karachi Kings
|Pakistan Super League
|Cricket
|National Stadium
|2015
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |Karachi Kings
|Pakistan Super League
|Cricket
|National Stadium
|2015
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |Karachi Blues
|National T20 Cup
|Cricket
|National Stadium
|2023
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |Karachi Whites
|National T20 Cup/Quaid-e-Azam Trophy
|Cricket
|National Stadium
|2023
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |Karachi Zebras
|National T20 League/National One-day Championship
|Cricket
|National Stadium
|2004
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |HBL FC
|Pakistan Premier League
|Football
|People's Football Stadium
|1975
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |K-Electric F.C.
|Pakistan Premier League
|Football
|People's Football Stadium
|1913
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |KPT F.C.
|Pakistan Premier League
|Football
|KPT Football Stadium
|1887
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |NBP F.C.
|Pakistan Premier League
|Football
|KPT Football Stadium
|N/A
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |PIA F.C.
|Pakistan Premier League
|Football
|KPT Football Stadium
|1958
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |Karachi United F.C.
|Pakistan Premier League
|Football
|Karachi United Stadium
|1996
|-
! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" |Diya W.F.C.
|National Women Football Championship
|Football
|N/A
|2002
|}

== Notable people ==

== Twin towns and sister cities ==
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
*{{flagicon|IRN}} [[Place:Mashhad|Mashhad]], Iran<ref name=siasat>{{cite web |title=Here are the TWIN Sisters of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, and other Pakistani cities, from across the globe |url=https://blog.siasat.pk/here-are-the-twin-sisters-of-karachi-lahore-islamabad-multan-and-other-pakistani-cities-from-across-the-globe/ |website=siasat.pk |publisher=Siasat Blogs |date=19 July 2021 |access-date=13 October 2021}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|IRN}} [[Place:Qom|Qom]], Iran<ref>{{cite web |title=Qom |url=https://www.toiran.com/en/city-qom |website=toiran.com |access-date=13 October 2021}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|CHN}} [[Place:Tianjin|Tianjin]], China<ref name=tianjin>{{cite web |title=China's Tianjin Municipality named sister-city to Karachi, Islamabad |url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/09/21/chinas-tianjin-municipality-named-sister-city-to-karachi-islamabad/ |website=pakistantoday.com.pk |publisher=Pakistan Today |date=21 September 2021 |access-date=13 October 2021}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|CHN}} [[Place:Ürümqi|Ürümqi]], China<ref name=dawn2019>{{cite web |title=Three Chinese towns named sister cities to Karachi, Gwadar, Multan |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1472506 |website=dawn.com |publisher=Dawn |date=29 March 2019 |access-date=11 October 2021}}</ref>
<!--rest - not twinning-->
{{div col end}}

==See also==

{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Subdivisions in Karachi
* Developments in Karachi
* Cinema in Karachi
* Cuisine of Karachi
* List of cemeteries in Karachi
* List of hospitals in Karachi
* List of magazines in Karachi
* List of newspapers in Karachi
* List of parks and gardens in Karachi
* List of people from Karachi
* List of streets of Karachi
* List of tallest buildings in Karachi
* List of tourist attractions in Karachi
* List of cultural heritage sites in Karachi
* List of television stations in Karachi
* List of Union Councils of Karachi
* Media in Karachi
* Sister cities of Karachi
* Transport in Karachi
* Garachi
{{div col end}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

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{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyB3JTHus0 Karachi at the end of the Raj], film by an unknown British soldier, 1942–1947, Mowgli Productions.
* {{curlie|Regional/Asia/Pakistan/Provinces/Sindh/Localities/Karachi/}}
* [https://www.dawn.com/news/1606997/understanding-the-truth-behind-the-facade Growth of the city]

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