Home to almost 200 million people, Pakistan is a large country with a dynamic and talented workforce. With a diverse culture and rich historical background, the country has been home to countless dynasties, warriors, and modern cultural and political icons (like Benazir Bhutto and Malala Yousafzai), and has been at the centre of scientific, artistic, and musical developments for centuries. The country is famed for its religious history, its military might, and its beautiful landscape.

With a strong performing economy, and a place in Goldman Sachs’ ‘Next Eleven’, Pakistan is situated to become one of the world’s largest economies in the 21st century. Strong in the manufacturing and textile industries, Pakistan offers many millions of skilled workers able to complete a variety of projects.

Pakistan benefits from one of the world’s largest population of internet users (in excess of 20 million individuals), and many of its citizens are highly computer literate. This, combined with an increasingly outward-looking worldview, and a strong desire to improve their quality of life and earning potential, means that many Pakistanis are turning to remote work and freelancing in order to seek new opportunities that cannot be found at home. As a result, Pakistan ranks fifth on UpWork’s list of top freelancer countries, and third on Freelancer.com.

Despite being a nation where over 60 languages are spoken, Pakistan’s official languages are Urdu and English, and much of the population is competent English speakers.

Top Skills

The Pakistani population is largely educated, with literacy rates increasing year-on-year as government-led education initiatives take effect. The country has a large number of well-respected universities and higher education establishments, such as Government College University.

Typical Pakistani university graduates leave with degrees in science and engineering, surgery and medicine, law, architecture, and business administration or management. Pakistani freelancers and remote workers dominate the supply of IT and software development professionals, as well as offering large numbers of high-skilled customer support and client service representatives.

In 2013, Pakistani freelancers represented over 5% of UpWork’s (then oDesk) freelancer population. Many Pakistani freelancers offer their services as part of small agencies with niche specializations that include software and website development, graphic design, marketing and SEO.

As such, the IT sector is regarded as one of the fastest growing sectors of the Pakistan services economy the ICT industry places Pakistan in the world’s top 5 freelancing nations, and is expected to contribute over $10 billion to the country’s economy by 2020.

Income Range

The International Labour Organization recognises Pakistan’s average monthly wage at $255. This is below countries like the Philippines, India, and China, where individuals make 10-20% more on average.

The average salary for a software engineer in Pakistan is $11,353 a year, however the best freelancers can charge considerably more than this.

Currency

The currency of Pakistan is the Pakistani Rupee

The current exchange rate is 1USD = 104 PKR

Currency Transfer

Currency transfers can be made through online services like PayPal or Transferwise