Looking for amazing facts about Pakistan? This page collects them in one place, each one checked against a named source: the hardest mountain on Earth, the largest irrigation system ever built, Nobel Prize winners, world records and firsts of every kind. A new fact article is added every day, each telling the full story behind its line on this page.
Some entries are marked From the record books. Those are achievements that were true in their years and have since been equalled or passed. Their articles tell the honest whole story: when the record was set, how long it stood, and who holds it today.
Amazing Facts About Pakistan, by Theme
Geography and Nature
- K2, at 8,611 metres in the Karakoram, is the second highest mountain on Earth.
- Five of the world’s fourteen peaks above 8,000 metres stand in Pakistan or on its border.
- The Indus runs for about 3,200 kilometres, one of the longest rivers in the world.
- The Indus Basin in Pakistan is the world’s largest single connected irrigation system.
- The Karakoram holds the longest glaciers found outside the polar regions.
History and Heritage
- Six places in Pakistan are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- Mohenjo-daro, built about 4,500 years ago, shows one of the earliest planned cities in the world.
- In 1988, Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to lead a Muslim nation in modern history.
- In 1964, PIA became the first airline from a non communist country to fly to China.
Science and Education
- Abdus Salam shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, the first Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize in science.
- Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize at 17, the youngest Nobel laureate in history.
- Pakistan set up its national space agency, SUPARCO, in 1961.
- The United Nations Human Development Index was created under Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq.
- From the record books: in 2004, Arfa Karim became the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional at nine, a title she held until 2008. In 2014 it passed to Ayan Qureshi, a British Pakistani boy who passed the same exam at five.
Sports
- From the record books: Pakistan has won the men’s Hockey World Cup four times, in 1971, 1978, 1982 and 1994.
- Pakistan won the Cricket World Cup in 1992, beating England in the final in Melbourne.
- Jahangir Khan won 555 squash matches in a row between 1981 and 1986.
- Shoaib Akhtar bowled the fastest recorded ball in cricket, 161.3 km/h, in 2003.
World Records and Firsts
- The Edhi Foundation runs the world’s largest volunteer ambulance organisation, a Guinness World Records listing.
- Khewra is Pakistan’s largest and oldest salt mine, described by Punjab Tourism as the world’s second largest.
- From the record books: Islamabad’s Faisal Mosque was the largest mosque in the world from 1986 to 1993.
- Samina Baig became the first Pakistani woman to climb Mount Everest, in 2013.
Pakistanis Around the World
- Sadiq Khan, the London born son of Pakistani parents, became the first Muslim mayor of London in 2016.
- Nergis Mavalvala, raised in Karachi, became dean of the MIT School of Science in 2020.
- An estimated 60 to 70 percent of the world’s hand stitched footballs are made in Sialkot.
- Pakistan ranks among the world’s top five cotton producers in FAO seed cotton figures.
New amazing facts about Pakistan are added daily. If you know a verified Pakistan fact that belongs here, write to us at contact@goodnews.com.pk. Many of these records also appear on our Pakistan World Rankings and Records page.