ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has produced 32,640 PhDs across 119 universities over the past decade.
The data released by the Gallup Pakistan in its Digital Analytics Higher Education Dashboard, indicates a significant expansion in advanced academic training nationwide, highlighting a concentration of doctoral output in specific disciplines.
Among all fields, Chemistry leads in doctoral production with 2,433 PhDs awarded during this period. Mathematics follows with 1,680 doctorates, while education accounts for 1,460. Islamic Studies recorded 1,333 PhDs, and Urdu produced 1,241. In the core natural sciences, physics accounted for 1,006 PhDs, zoology for 885, and botany for 874.
By comparison, applied and economically strategic disciplines recorded relatively lower numbers. Economics produced 743 PhDs, while biotechnology accounted for 699 during the same period.
The dashboard data shows Pakistan’s doctoral ecosystem has expanded substantially over the past decade. However, distribution of PhDs across disciplines reveals structural patterns that analysts say require policy attention. While traditional and foundational academic fields dominate doctoral output, areas closely linked to industrial development, technological competitiveness, and export-oriented growth remain smaller in scale.
Education observers emphasise the issue is not the legitimacy of any academic discipline but rather achieving long-term balance and alignment between research training and national development priorities.
Experts warn without stronger alignment between doctoral education and needs of economic transformation, rising PhD production could result in underemployment, academic congestion, and limited translation of research into technological advancement.
With 32,640 PhDs awarded across 119 institutions, Pakistan’s higher education sector has experienced notable growth. Analysts suggest the next phase of reform will likely focus on improving productivity, strengthening research-to-industry linkages, and ensuring strategic distribution of doctoral training to support long-term national competitiveness.
