One of the four provinces of Pakistan, being the barren plateau region in the west, bordering Iran, and bounded on the south by the Arabian Sea and on the north by Afghanistan.

The capital is Quetta, near the Afghan border. It also contains the port of Gwadar, which used to belong to Muscat and Oman (the old name of Oman).

The area is about 347 000 km², and the population is about 6.5 million (1998 census), making it the largest in area but the least populous. The provincial assembly has 40 seats. The main language is the Indo-European Baluchi. The region is also known as Baluchistan, but Balochistan is the official spelling.