OBJECTIVES:  To obtain the prevalence of depression and whether the socio-demographic variables were associated with depression in professional university students METHODS:  A cross-sectional study was carried out on students of ages between 18-25 years in faculty of pharmacy and alternative medicine in The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Data was collected by self- administered questionnaire on socio-demographic variables. Depression was evaluated by Beck depression inventory (BDI). BDI scores of 17 or more than 17 are considered depressive. SPSS version 20.0 was used for data analysis. Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance were applied for continuous data analysis RESULTS:  Out of all respondents, 40% students suffered from depression and had BDI scores of 17 or above of it. The prevalence of depression among 2^nd year students is 43.2%, 52.3% in students with poor study performance, 56.2% in students residing in urban areas, 50% in students of 20 years older or less, and 68.2% in students with poor socio-economic status. Depression was significantly associated with poor socio-economic status, study year and study performance showing p value > 0.001 for all variables while depression levels were insignificantly high among females and urban residents showing p values 0.479 and 0.193 respectively CONCLUSIONS:  Professional Students of a public sector university of Pakistan have high prevalence of depression. Considering high prevalence of depression among university students, a student counseling service should be arranged to help the students with poor study performance and poor financial back ground