“I SEE NO political or economic future in Pakistan,” a 21-year-old law student at the University of Punjab in Lahore said. “If there are no jobs for us, we cannot even criticise the government.” The law student’s anxiety is not unusual. University students across Pakistan’s provinces and regions are despondent and nervous – just as they have been for a long time.
For years now, young Pakistanis have faced rising living costs, limited economic opportunities and persistent unemployment in the country. The 2024-25 Labour Survey of Pakistan put unemployment among those aged between 15 and 24 years at almost 13 percent. In provinces such as Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwah, militant violence, political unrest and insecurity compound these anxieties. Across the country, growing authoritarianism, the military’s expanding political influence and restrictions on political expression have also made young people increasingly fearful of speaking out. Most see few opportunities to build secure lives or influence the decisions shaping their futures.
The issue is not simply one of unemployment, frustration or disillusionment but that a growing number of young people appear to have concluded that leaving Pakistan is a safer and more rational response to the country’s failures than demanding improvement. This impetus is in stark contrast to the state’s frequent celebration of Pakistan’s young population as a demographic blessing. With approximately 64 percent of its population under the age of 30, Pakistan has one of the world’s largest youth populations. On International Youth Day in August 2025, the prime minister Shehbaz Sharif declared that young Pakistanis were “the driving force behind our economic development.” He added that “Pakistan’s future is bright because its youth are ready.” Yet translating this demographic potential into economic opportunity requires creating millions of jobs. The World Bank estimated that Pakistan would need to generate between 2.5 million and 3 million jobs annually over the next decade simply to absorb new entrants into its labour force.