Benazir Bhutto, the eldest child of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was born on June 21, 1953, at Karachi. She attended Lady Jennings Nursery School and then Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examination at the age of 15. In April 1969, she got admission in the U. S. at Harvard University's Radcliffe College. In June 1973, Benazir graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Political Science. After graduating from Harvard, Benazir joined Oxford University in the fall of 1973. Just before graduation, Benazir was elected to the Standing Committee of the most prestigious Oxford Union Debating Society.

In 1976, she graduated in P. P. E. (Politics, Philosophy and Economics). In the autumn of 1976, Benazir returned once again to Oxford to do a one-year postgraduate course. In January 1977, she was elected the President of the Oxford Union. Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in June 1977. She wanted to join the Foreign Service but her father wanted her to contest the Assembly election. As she was not yet of age, Benazir Bhutto assisted her father as an advisor.