Wasim Akram was born on 3 June 1966 in Lahore. He was educated at Government Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore, where he played as an opening bowler and batsman. Like several other Pakistani cricketers during the 1980s, his inclusion into the national side was at the behest of a senior player in the team, which in Akram's case, was Javed Miandad.

At the age of 30, Akram was diagnosed with diabetes. "I remember what a shock it was because I was a healthy sportsman with no history of diabetes in my family, so I didn't expect it at all. It seemed strange that it happened to me when I was 30, but it was a very stressful time and doctors said that can trigger it." Since then he has actively sought to be involved in various awareness campaigns for diabetes.

Akram married Huma Mufti in 1995. They have two sons Tahmoor (born 1996) and Akbar (born 2000) from their marriage of fifteen years. Huma died of multiple organ failure at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India on 25 October 2009.

On 7 July 2013, it was reported that Akram had become engaged to an Australian woman, Shaniera Thompson, whom he had met while on a visit to Melbourne in 2011. Akram married Shaniera on 12 August 2013, saying he has started a new life on a happy note. "I married Shaniera in Lahore in a simple ceremony and this is the start of a new life for me, my wife and for my kids" He moved from Lahore to Karachi with his wife and kids. On 3 September 2014, the couple tweeted that they were expecting their first baby—third child of Akram.^[27] On 27 December 2014, Shaniera Akram delivered a baby girl Aiyla Akram in Melbourne.

On 5 August 2015, an unidentified man opened fire at Akram's car on Karsaz Road near Karachi's National Stadium in an apparent incident of road rage, but Akram escaped unhurt.