How healthy is Pakistan?

Pakistan is behind the South Asia average on all 6 measures of health. Week 39: no illness was above its usual level.

  • 68years is how long people live, on averageUN World Population Prospects 2024, 2023
  • 56in 1,000 children die before they are fiveUN SDG Global Database, 2024
  • 39,358patients seen at 17 state cancer hospitals in 2021Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, cancer report for 2020 and 2021
Health careHealth care in Pakistan5,746 basic health units and sub-health centres, with 1,934 hospitals, by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics' count for 2024Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, health institutions, beds and personnel, 2015 to 2024

Illness this week

Is any illness worse than usual?

No. Nothing is above its usual range for this time of year.

2026Chickenpox cases a week, week 39

165 chickenpox cases a week, on average, over the last four weeks

165 a week now, against a usual 136 a week: within its usual range.

Usual for these weeks136a week

The last four weeks165a week

Within its usual range

Source: Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad, weekly report for week 39 of 2026

See the details

Every illness against its usual

  • Chickenpox1.2× its usual
  • Mumps1.1× its usual
  • Flu-like illness1.1× its usual
  • Skin leishmaniasis1.0× its usual
  • Dog bite1.0× its usual
  • Bloody diarrhoea0.9× its usual
  • Chikungunya0.9× its usual
  • Pneumonia in under-fives0.9× its usual
  • Hepatitis B, C and D0.9× its usual
  • Sudden limb weakness0.9× its usual
  • Severe chest infection0.8× its usual
  • Hepatitis A and E0.8× its usual
  • HIV and AIDS0.8× its usual
  • Measles0.8× its usual
  • Non-cholera diarrhoea0.8× its usual
  • Malaria0.7× its usual
  • Gonorrhoea0.7× its usual
  • Tuberculosis0.7× its usual
  • Meningitis0.7× its usual
  • Typhoid0.6× its usual
  • Whooping cough0.6× its usual
  • Dengue0.5× its usual
  • Suspected cholera0.3× its usual

The last four weeks against the same four weeks of the two years before. Illnesses with fewer than 20 cases a week are left out: too few to compare.

What makes the most people ill

  • Non-cholera diarrhoea39 in 100
  • Malaria24 in 100
  • Flu-like illness17 in 100
  • Pneumonia in under-fives6 in 100
  • Tuberculosis5 in 100
  • 31 others9 in 100

8,921,710 reports so far in 2026, across 36 illnesses. A reported case means someone reached a clinic and a form was filed, so these count reports, not everyone who was ill.

Can these numbers be trusted?

14 of 117 districts sent nothing in the newest report.

The reports behind these figures

Read from these four weekly reports by Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad:

  • Week 36, 2026
  • Week 37, 2026
  • Week 38, 2026
  • Week 39, 2026
The 8 reports behind "usual"
  • Week 36, 2024
  • Week 37, 2024
  • Week 38, 2024
  • Week 39, 2024
  • Week 36, 2025
  • Week 37, 2025
  • Week 38, 2025
  • Week 39, 2025

The publisher's own list of its weekly reports

How late Pakistan's reports arrive, and which weeks are missing ›

Illness this week

Is dengue getting better or worse?

Dengue is climbing: from 119 to 1,397 cases a week in eight weeks. Nationally it is still well below usual for the season.

2026Dengue cases, newest week

1,397 dengue cases in the newest week, up from 119 eight weeks before

Climbing week after week. Pakistan, dengue cases each week, the last 12 weeks.

Source: worked out by Dooram from the Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad, weekly report for week 39 of 2026

See the details

Nothing here is a forecast or a cause; each figure can be checked against the weekly reports.

Illness this week

Where is non-cholera diarrhoea above usual?

Hangu is highest, at 2.0× its usual non-cholera diarrhoea.

2026Districts above their usual

35 of 80 districts with enough cases to compare are above their own usual

Hangu is highest, at 2.0× its usual. In colour, every district where non-cholera diarrhoea is above its own usual for these weeks; the rest grey
Korangi Karachi: usual, 1.2× its usualChiniot: not in this reportKech: usual, 1.0× its usualFaisalabad: not in this reportLower Dir: above usual, 1.3× its usualKilla Abdullah: above usual, 1.4× its usualJacobabad: usual, 0.8× its usualHangu: well above usual, 2.0× its usualJhang: not in this reportPoonch: not in this reportThatta: usual, 1.2× its usualKasur: not in this reportMansehra: above usual, 1.3× its usualNasirabad: usual, 0.9× its usualNagar: too few cases to compareBagh: not in this reportChaman: too few clinics reported to compareBuner: above usual, 1.4× its usualGujrat: not in this reportKhushab: not in this reportOkara: not in this reportGhizer: not in this reportUpper Dir: above usual, 1.9× its usualMastung: usual, 1.0× its usualLakki Marwat: usual, 1.1× its usualKohistan Lower: above usual, 1.9× its usualMuzaffarabad: not in this reportTando Muhammad Khan: usual, 0.9× its usualGwadar: too few clinics reported to compareToba Tek Singh: not in this reportKarak: above usual, 1.5× its usualZiarat: too few clinics reported to compareZhob: too few clinics reported to compareJhelum Valley: not in this reportNarowal: not in this reportJhelum: not in this reportMatiari: usual, 0.9× its usualBhimber: not in this reportKashmore: below usual, 0.8× its usualSujawal: usual, 1.0× its usualAttock: not in this reportMusakhel: too few clinics reported to compareDarel: not in this reportNaushahro Feroze: below usual, 0.8× its usualShikarpur: usual, 1.0× its usualD. I. Khan: above usual, 1.3× its usualPanjgur: too few clinics reported to compareChitral Upper: usual, 1.2× its usualKachhi: too few clinics reported to compareJaffarabad: well below usual, 0.3× its usualMandi Bahauddin: not in this reportGupis-Yasin: not in this reportBarkhan: usual, 0.8× its usualCentral Karachi: above usual, 1.3× its usualNushki: usual, 0.9× its usualKilla Saifullah: too few clinics reported to compareHunza: too few cases to compareMianwali: not in this reportBatagram: above usual, 1.5× its usualKhanewal: not in this reportJhal Magsi: well below usual, 0.4× its usualKhyber: above usual, 1.4× its usualHaripur: above usual, 1.3× its usualKolai Palas Kohistan: usual, 0.9× its usualNorth Waziristan: above usual, 1.3× its usualKambar Shahdad Kot: usual, 0.8× its usualBahawalpur: not in this reportRondu: not in this reportSanghar: usual, 1.2× its usualAwaran: too few clinics reported to compareUmer Kot: usual, 1.1× its usualSouth Karachi: above usual, 1.3× its usualShigar: not in this reportKalat: well below usual, 0.0× its usualJamshoro: usual, 1.1× its usualHafizabad: not in this reportSahiwal: not in this reportSouth Waziristan: not in this reportChagai: usual, 1.2× its usualBadin: above usual, 1.8× its usualPakpattan: not in this reportKurram: not in this reportDadu: usual, 1.2× its usualRawalpindi: not in this reportKohistan Upper: usual, 1.0× its usualSargodha: not in this reportLeiah: not in this reportSheikhupura: not in this reportDera Ghazi Khan: not in this reportMultan: not in this reportShaheed Benazir Abad: usual, 0.8× its usualShaheed Sikandarabad: not in this reportSudhnoti: not in this reportBannu: usual, 1.1× its usualKhuzdar: too few clinics reported to compareRajanpur: not in this reportKharmang: not in this reportMalir Karachi: below usual, 0.7× its usualNowshera: above usual, 1.3× its usualLodhran: not in this reportGhanche: not in this reportLarkana: usual, 0.9× its usualMalakand: above usual, 1.7× its usualSwabi: above usual, 1.8× its usualCharsadda: above usual, 1.4× its usualOrakzai: too few clinics reported to compareShangla: usual, 1.2× its usualKohat: usual, 1.2× its usualRahim Yar Khan: not in this reportBahawalnagar: not in this reportQuetta: too few clinics reported to compareGujranwala: not in this reportLoralai: above usual, 1.5× its usualBhakkar: not in this reportMirpur Khas: usual, 1.0× its usualAstore: not in this reportKharan: above usual, 1.3× its usualKohlu: too few clinics reported to compareSwat: above usual, 1.4× its usualAbbottabad: above usual, 1.4× its usualNeelum: not in this reportDera Bugti: too few clinics reported to compareSohbatpur: below usual, 0.8× its usualKotli: not in this reportSibi: too few clinics reported to compareMohmand: too few clinics reported to compareVehari: not in this reportTank: usual, 1.0× its usualHarnai: above usual, 1.5× its usualWashuk: too few clinics reported to compareChitral Lower: usual, 1.1× its usualLehri: not in this reportTor Ghar: above usual, 1.7× its usualPeshawar: above usual, 1.5× its usualPishin: too few clinics reported to compareKhairpur: usual, 0.9× its usualEast Karachi: usual, 0.9× its usualHyderabad: above usual, 1.3× its usualLahore: not in this reportIslamabad: not in this reportSherani: too few clinics reported to compareHaveli: not in this reportGhotki: above usual, 1.3× its usualMirpur: not in this reportSkardu: not in this reportWest Karachi: above usual, 1.3× its usualMardan: well above usual, 2.0× its usualDuki: too few clinics reported to compareTangir: not in this reportGilgit: not in this reportDiamir: not in this reportNankana Sahib: not in this reportChakwal: not in this reportBajaur: usual, 0.8× its usualSukkur: usual, 1.0× its usualMuzaffargarh: not in this reportTharparkar: below usual, 0.8× its usualTando Allahyar: usual, 1.1× its usualLasbela: usual, 1.2× its usualSialkot: not in this report
  1. Hangu2.0× its usual
  2. Mardan2.0× its usual
  3. Upper Dir1.9× its usual
  4. Kohistan Lower1.9× its usual
  5. Swabi1.8× its usual
  6. 26 more above usual

Source: Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad, weekly report for week 39 of 2026

See the details

Every district with enough cases to compare

  • Hangu2.0×
  • Mardan2.0×
  • South Waziristan (Lower)1.9×
  • Upper Dir1.9×
  • Kohistan Lower1.9×
  • Swabi1.8×
  • Badin1.8×
  • Malakand1.7×
  • Tor Ghar1.7×
  • Peshawar1.5×
  • Upper Kurram1.5×
  • Harnai1.5×
  • Batagram1.5×
  • Karak1.5×
  • Loralai1.5×
  • Khyber1.4×
  • Abbottabad1.4×
  • Charsadda1.4×
  • Buner1.4×
  • Killa Abdullah1.4×
  • Swat1.4×
  • Lower Dir1.3×
  • West Karachi1.3×
  • Hyderabad1.3×
  • Ghotki1.3×
  • Karachi Keamari1.3×
  • D. I. Khan1.3×
  • South Karachi1.3×
  • North Waziristan1.3×
  • Mansehra1.3×
  • Central Karachi1.3×
  • Kharan1.3×
  • Usta Muhammad1.3×
  • Haripur1.3×
  • Nowshera1.3×
  • Chitral Upper1.2×
  • Shangla1.2×
  • Kohat1.2×
  • Dadu1.2×
  • Korangi Karachi1.2×
  • Sanghar1.2×
  • Lasbela1.2×
  • Chagai1.2×
  • Thatta1.2×
  • Bannu1.1×
  • Tando Allahyar1.1×
  • Chitral Lower1.1×
  • Jamshoro1.1×
  • Lakki Marwat1.1×
  • Umer Kot1.1×
  • Mirpur Khas1.0×
  • Kohistan Upper1.0×
  • Mastung1.0×
  • Sujawal1.0×
  • Sukkur1.0×
  • Shikarpur1.0×
  • Kech1.0×
  • Tank1.0×
  • Nushki0.9×
  • Larkana0.9×
  • Matiari0.9×
  • Tando Muhammad Khan0.9×
  • Khairpur0.9×
  • Kolai Palas Kohistan0.9×
  • East Karachi0.9×
  • Nasirabad0.9×
  • Kambar Shahdad Kot0.8×
  • Shaheed Benazir Abad0.8×
  • Barkhan0.8×
  • Jacobabad0.8×
  • Bajaur0.8×
  • Tharparkar0.8×
  • Kashmore0.8×
  • Naushahro Feroze0.8×
  • Sohbatpur0.8×
  • Malir Karachi0.7×
  • South Waziristan (Upper)0.4×
  • Jhal Magsi0.4×
  • Jaffarabad0.3×
  • Kalat0.0×

Why each against itself

A large district always has more cases than a small one. Comparing each with its own usual shows where something has changed, whatever its size.

Each has a page of its own: Hangu, Mardan, South Waziristan (Lower), Upper Dir, Kohistan Lower.

Cancer

How common is cancer in Pakistan?

39,358 patients were seen at 17 state cancer hospitals in 2021. Pakistan publishes no count for the whole country. Breast cancer leads among women patients, mouth cancer among men patients.

2021

39,358 patients seen at 17 state cancer hospitals in 2021

Breast cancer, women patients: 42.2 in 100; mouth cancer, men patients: 16.1. The commonest cancer in each group of patients, in every 100 of that group

In every 100

  • Breast cancer, women patients: 42.2 in 100
  • Mouth cancer, men patients: 16.1 in 100

Source: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, cancer report for 2020 and 2021

More on cancer in Pakistan
See the details

Source: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Pakistan Atomic Energy Cancer Registry (PAECR) Vol-III 2020-21.

Health care

Can people get the basic care they need?

56 out of 100: 7th of the 9 countries in South Asia.

2023Basic health care coverage

56 of 100 for how well basic health care reaches people

56 out of 100: below the South Asia average of 67. How well basic health care reaches people, out of 100, 2023

Out of 100

  • 56Pakistan
  • 67South Asia average

Source: UN SDG Global Database, 2023

See the details

How good is Pakistan's health care?

Behind the South Asia average on all 6 measures. One more is compared with the world.

  • Can people get the basic care they need?

    56 out of 100

    Worse than South Asia (67). 7th of 9 countries in South Asia.

    Afghanistan: 42Bangladesh: 54Nepal: 58Bhutan: 69India: 69Maldives: 71Sri Lanka: 72Iran (Islamic Republic of): 81

    Source: UN SDG Global Database (indicator 3.8.1), from WHO, figure for 2023.

  • How many children die before they are five?

    56 in every 1,000 born

    Worse than South Asia (33). 9th of 9 countries in South Asia.

    Afghanistan: 53Bangladesh: 31India: 27Nepal: 25Bhutan: 17Iran (Islamic Republic of): 11Sri Lanka: 5.9Maldives: 5.4

    Source: UN SDG Global Database (indicator 3.2.1), from the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, figure for 2024.

  • How many mothers die giving birth?

    155 in every 100,000 births

    Worse than South Asia (117). 8th of 9 countries in South Asia.

    Afghanistan: 521Nepal: 142Bangladesh: 115India: 80Bhutan: 47Maldives: 32Sri Lanka: 18Iran (Islamic Republic of): 16

    Source: UN SDG Global Database (indicator 3.1.1), from the UN Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group, figure for 2023.

  • Are children vaccinated?

    87% get all three diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough doses

    Worse than South Asia (92). 8th of 9 countries in South Asia.

    Afghanistan: 59India: 94Bangladesh: 97Sri Lanka: 97Nepal: 97Bhutan: 98Iran (Islamic Republic of): 98Maldives: 99

    Source: UN SDG Global Database (indicator 3.b.1), from WHO and UNICEF, figure for 2024.

  • Are there enough nurses and midwives?

    5.2 for every 10,000 people

    Worse than South Asia (23). 9th of 9 countries in South Asia.

    Afghanistan: 5.5Bangladesh: 6.6Bhutan: 21Sri Lanka: 23India: 27Iran (Islamic Republic of): 29Nepal: 42Maldives: 60

    Source: UN SDG Global Database (indicator 3.c.1), from WHO's health workforce accounts, figure for 2024.

  • How long do people live?

    68 years, on average, from birth

    Worse than South Asia (72). 8th of 9 countries in South Asia.

    Afghanistan: 66Nepal: 70India: 72Bhutan: 73Bangladesh: 75Sri Lanka: 78Iran (Islamic Republic of): 78Maldives: 81

    Source: UN World Population Prospects 2024, figure for 2023.

  • Do health costs push families into hardship?

    34% of people pay more than 40% of what they can spare on health

    Worse than the world (26). 7th of 9 countries in South Asia.

    Bangladesh: 42Afghanistan: 35India: 31Nepal: 25Iran (Islamic Republic of): 16Maldives: 14Sri Lanka: 11Bhutan: 9

    Source: UN SDG Global Database (indicator 3.8.2), from national household surveys, figure for 2018.

Why, according to research

Sources. United Nations Statistics Division, SDG Global Database, with figures from the agencies named under each measure; UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects 2024. Each figure is the latest the UN publishes, so years differ. Read 8 October 2026.

Health care

Do people get vaccines and check-ups?

82 in 100 children have been given the second measles dose, and only 44 in 100 people with high blood pressure have been told they have it.

2019High blood pressure found

44 in 100 people with high blood pressure have been told they have it

Children are reached far more often than adults. People in every 100. Each bar counts a different group in a different year, so the bars are not two measures of one thing.

In every 100

  • Children given the second measles vaccine dose, 2024: 82 in 100
  • People with high blood pressure who have been told so, 2019: 44 in 100

Source: World Health Organization and UNICEF

See the details

Children given the second measles vaccine dose, 2024: United Nations Statistics Division, SDG Global Database, from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, read 11 October 2026.

People with high blood pressure who have been told so, 2019: World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory, from the World Health Organization, read 11 October 2026.

Health care

How far is a hospital or clinic?

In 21 of 130 districts, half of people live within an hour's walk of a hospital or clinic.

The longest walk to care: Barkhan

about 20 hours in Barkhan, the longest: half of its people live within this walk

The longest: Barkhan, about 20 hours. The walk within which half of people live, the five longest

The walk within which half of people live

  1. 1about 20hoursBarkhan
  2. 2about 19hoursKohlu
  3. 3about 17hoursDarel

Then Awaran, about 17 hours; Nushki, about 15 hours.

Source: Weiss and others, Nature Medicine 2020; WorldPop 2020

See the details

Walking times are a model: the time to walk to the nearest hospital or clinic in a list of facilities mapped in 2019, over roads and paths at walking pace. A facility opened since, or missing from that list, is not counted.

Each district's own page shows how many of its people are within an hour's walk, and how many are further.

Sources: walking times, Weiss and others, Nature Medicine 2020; where people live, WorldPop 2020.

Air and water

Is the air clean in Pakistan?

The air across the country holds far more fine particles than the advised level.

2023Fine particles in the air

9× the fine particles the World Health Organization advises

42.9: over the World Health Organization guideline of 5. Fine particles, micrograms in a cubic metre of air, the average over 2023

42.9Pakistan, over the year 2023 · micrograms in a cubic metre of air

  • Over World Health Organization guideline, 5

Source: World Health Organization, 2023

See the details

Measured in micrograms in a cubic metre of air, averaged over a year and over the whole country. It is an estimate from a model, not a reading from one place.

Source: United Nations Statistics Division, SDG Global Database, from the World Health Organization, read 11 October 2026. Guideline: World Health Organization air quality guidelines, 2021.

Dooram informs; it does not give medical advice. Every figure names who published it and when.

Sources. Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad, weekly report. District maps: World Food Programme Spatial Data Infrastructure, published as a Common Operational Dataset by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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