How common are marriages between overseas Pakistanis and Pakistan-based spouses?
Last reviewed:
Direct answer
There is no current global statistic for the share of overseas Pakistanis who marry a Pakistan-based spouse. Immigration departments count visas using country-specific categories, Pakistan’s emigration data counts workers, and diaspora population tables do not record where spouses lived before marriage. British Pakistani research shows that transnational marriage has been significant in some communities, but those findings cannot produce a worldwide percentage. A defensible estimate would require linked marriage and migration records by destination, generation, sex and year, with a clear definition of “Pakistan-based.”
Sources used
Transnational marriage and family life among British Pakistanis
Peer-reviewed research, PubMed Central
Peer-reviewed qualitative research on migration, family expectations and transnational Pakistani marriages.View sourceTransnationalism and cousin marriage among British Pakistanis
Peer-reviewed research, PubMed Central
Research on how kinship, migration and family formation interact across Pakistan and Britain.View sourceInternational Migrant Stock 2024
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division
Comparable estimates of international migrants by origin and destination; migrant stock differs from annual worker registrations and broad diaspora estimates.View source