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Welcome To Pakistan
Country number
41
Selected MR Agencies
  • Elephants Can't Jump

    Ensuring brand initiatives work in practice as well as in theory. To have marketplace impact, we believe every research assignment should consist of three elements consumer exploration or validation, within a competitive context, generating commercial outputs.
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  • Firefish Ltd

    29 full time staff, operating in all corners of the globe, on all manner of projects. No methodology is squashed to fit. We approach each brief with fresh eyes and minds, to make sure you get the most out of your research, helping your brand move forward.
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  • Grass Roots

    Grass Roots is one of Europe's largest performance improvement companies. Established in 1980, Grass Roots UK is the founding company of a group with offices and partners operating in 15 countries around the world.
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  • DIGITAL-MR

    In addition to Social Media Research (Web Listening) DigitalMRs solutions also include community panels, access panels, Web usability and a distinct focus on qualitativeresearch online.
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An Introduction to Pakistan

The region forming modern Pakistan, officially know as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, was home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and was then successively a recipient of the Vedic, Persian, Torco-Mongol, Indo-Greek and Islamic cultures. It was part of India under the British Raj, until 1947 when it was granted independence. Following a civil war in 1971, East Pakistan became independent and known as Bangladesh. See full country profile.

Latest Research News from Pakistan



1 current Pakistani job:

Survey Research Manager, Remote Working - Worldwide, $ Competitive salary - (posted Feb 27 2024)


Fast Facts
Map of Pakistan
CAPITAL: Islamabad
GOVERNMENT: Federal Parliamentary Republic
AREA: 803,940 sq km
POPULATION: 169,767,000 (2010 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Urdu, English
Mehndi, Hena art, Pakistan
Mehndi, Hena art, Pakistan


We don't like to be beside the seaside Islamabad is only the tenth largest city in Pakistan with a population of 1.74m in 2009 - this has more than doubled in the last ten years. Karachi, the former capital and largest city, has more than 13m inhabitants and is the country's financial and commercial hub. The capital was moved on the prompting of President Ayub Khan following the appointment of a commission in 1958, due in part to perceived problems with Karachi's location and 'vulnerability', being easily attacked from the Arabian Sea.

A little More Knowledge?
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Pakistan in Profile

The region forming modern Pakistan, officially know as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, was home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and was then successively a recipient of the Vedic, Persian, Torco-Mongol, Indo-Greek and Islamic cultures. It was part of India under the British Raj, until 1947 when it was granted independence. Following a civil war in 1971, East Pakistan became independent and known as Bangladesh.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world. Relations with neighbouring India have always been somewhat fraught concerning disputed territory (Kashmir) and have deteriorated further in recent years due to nuclear testing and suspicions over the 2008 Mumbai attack. The assassination of political leader Benazir Bhutto in late 2007, and the resignation in August 2008 of President Musharraf led to the September election of Asif Zardari, Bhutto's widower. Pakistan's turbulent history has left behind some stunning historical material and in 2009 The World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Pakistan as one of the top 25% tourist destinations for its World Heritage sites.

Some Business and General Info

GDP: $452.7 billion (2008 est.)

Religions Muslim 95% (Sunni 75%, Shia 20%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 5%

Currency: Pakistani Rupee (PKR) (1 PKR = 0.009 EUR)

Telephone Code: +92

Overview of the Research Industry

MR Association(s):

Statistics: Pakistan is ranked 58th in countries ranked by MR industry size, with a turnover of $USD 14 million ($USD 0.08 per capita) in 2007. Ad spend in the same year was $USD 433 million ($USD 2.7 per capita), making MR as a percentage of ad spend 3.1%.
Source: ESOMAR

Overview of Trade and Industry

According to the CIA World Factbook: exports from Pakistan totaled $USD 20.62bn in 2008, and consisted of textiles, rice, leather goods, sports goods, chemicals, manufactures, carpets and mugs. Main export partners were the USA, UAE, Afghanistan, China and the UK. Imports stood at $USD 35.38bn, and mainly came from China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, the USA, Kuwait and Japan.

Wikipedia notes that Pakistan, an impoverished and underdeveloped country, has suffered from decades of internal political disputes, low levels of foreign investment, and declining exports of manufactures. Faced with untenable budgetary deficits, high inflation, and haemorrhaging foreign exchange reserves, the government agreed to an International Monetary Fund Standby Arrangement in November 2008. Between 2004-07, GDP growth in the 6-8% range was spurred by gains in the industrial and service sect'rs, despite severe electricity shortfalls.

Poverty levels have decreased by 10% since 2001, and Islamabad steadily raised development spending in recent years. In 2008 the fiscal deficit - a result of chronically low tax collection and increased spending - exceeded Islamabad's target of 4% of GDP. Inflation remains the top concern among the public, jumping from 7.7% in 2007 to 24.4% in 2008, primarily because of rising world fuel and commodity prices. In addition, the Pakistani rupee has depreciated significantly as a result of political and economic instability.

My view
from...
Pakistan
Researchers Talk!
Have your say!
If you are a researcher based in Pakistan, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!

Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com

Views from...

If you are a researcher in Pakistan, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!