Essay on Poverty in Pakistan with Outline | Causes and Solutions

Poverty in pakistan essay with outline for class 10, class 12 and graduation.

Here is an essay on Poverty in Pakistan with the outline for students of different classes. A good student should start writing Poverty in Pakistan essay with an outline and later discuss the reasons behind it and should end up with the solutions to deal with the reasons of this problem.

Outline of Essay on Poverty in Pakistan for F.A, FSC, 2nd Year, B.A & BSC

  • Introduction with the Poverty in Pakistan.
  • Reasons behind this problem.
  • Population explosion
  • The economic system is based on feudalism
  • unequal distribution of wealth
  • Politicians of Pakistan
  • Solutions to deal with this problem.

Poverty in Pakistan Essay

Pakistan is a poor and underdeveloped country. Most of its population lives in entirely adverse circumstances. Some reports reveal that more than forty percent population of Pakistan live below the line of poverty. The average income of a poor Pakistani is less than two dollars. A large number of people in our country do not have a proper place to live. This miserable condition has given birth to a large number of beggars and needy people, who live on the charity of the rich people. The economic condition of an average individual is very pathetic. Poverty, hunger and unemployment afflict a large section of the population. The causes of poverty’are quite obvious and known.

Firstly: We are facing a population explosion. There are more mouths to feed than there are hands to earn. One member of the family has to feed and support a large family. His income is limited. He cannot afford to maintain a large family. He works hard and consequently, he falls ill and dies. Then his wife steps in, work in village field or city homes to bring up her children. This cycle of poverty goes on. A poor remains poor the whole of his life. The main cause of poverty in Pakistan lies in the difference between the resources and the population increase.

Secondly: Most of the people in Pakistan are uneducated. They are ill-equipped to lead a good life. They do not know the modern methods of farming. They are ignorant to better ways of earning money in the mills and factories. With poor knowledge of life, they cannot increase production in mills and factories. Modern machinery is mostly computerized. An uneducated person cannot understand and operate the computer. How can he add to his income? The result is that he remains poor till the last moment of his life. It is very sad that rulers do not educate the workers. The workers do not get a chance to earn more money.

Thirdly: Our economic system is based on feudalism. A big landlord keeps the small farmers and workers under his political slavery. The “Haries” in Sindh, for example, have tried to get freedom from the feudal lords but who avail. In Baluchistan, there exists the “Sardari system”. This system does not allow the children of a poor farmer to get the education and find good jobs. Higher education is open only to the children of big landlords and sardars. in Punjab and NWFP the same condition exists.The economic condition of the small farmers and workers cannot become better in the presence of feudal lords i.

Fourthly: Pakistan is a country where there is no social, cultural and economic justice. The rich people in Pakistan are becoming mere rich, while the poor are becoming more poor. The economic disparity between the rich and the poor has eaten the very vitals of society.

Fifthly: Poverty in Pakistan exists due to Scarcity of jobs in the public and government sector. Our rulers are not responsible, dedicated and missionary. They failed to build new dams, a network of industry and roads in the country. The shortage of electricity and gas has resulted in the lock up of mills and factories. New factories were not set up in the past. The result is that our uneducated worker remains unemployed. The educated people have degrees, but they do not have opportunities to get a job. Many countries in the world have solved this problem. Pakistan too can solve the problem by adopting the following measures.

The rulers of Pakistan must discard their lavish way of living. They must be “one” with their people. They must lead a life of a common and hardworking person. This will go a long way to bridge. over the disparity between a rich and poor person. The population explosion must be controlled. People should be educated and guided to produce a small number of children. More industries, mills and factories should be set up to provide jobs to the workers and Small farmers.

If you have ended up reading with Essay on Poverty in Pakistan, you can go for Essay on Child Labour .

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poverty in pakistan essay in easy wording

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Poverty Trend in Pakistan: A Glimpse from Last Two Decades

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Poverty Trend in Pakistan: A Glimpse from Last Two Decades

Poverty trend in pakistan: a glimpse from last two decades  .

Hania Afzal & Henna Ahsan , Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.  

INTRODUCTION

Poverty reduction is one of the most important sustainable development goals set by the UN in 2015. According to this goal, Pakistan must reduce its poverty level to half by 2030 from 24.3 percent to 12 percent. Pakistan is making hard efforts to achieve this target although the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to achieve this goal due to severe macroeconomic imbalances in the economy.

This brief provides the consistent data series of poverty in Pakistan from 1998 to 2019 using the CBN estimation method. If we look at the historical data, it suggests that poverty has declined to some extent in Pakistan at the national as well as provincial level. Sustained economic growth is considered as the important driver of poverty reduction and in Pakistan, there is a need to maintain an economic growth of around 6 percent to 7 percent to alleviate about 30 percent of the population living under poverty. It is evident from the statistics that the early 2000s were a period of high economic growth and this growth translated into low poverty rates. Whereas after 2006 GDP grew at a decreasing rate as compared to preceding years resulting in low poverty decline and subsequently resulting in a greater number of potential poor in the country. Therefore, this knowledge brief aims to discuss different groups of poor people present in the country by categorising these at different poverty levels. This categorisation will help us to get a deep insight into the state of poverty across the country from 1998 to 2019 and will help policy-makers to formulate more specific and relevant policies concerning these different poverty groups.  

PIDE’S CONTRIBUTION IN MEASURING & EVALUATING POVERTY

PIDE has a vast history of measuring poverty and its characteristics by conducting various surveys for reaching the exact figures to help policy-makers better understand the phenomena and formulate the right policies. In reference to this, PIDE conducted surveys in three different rounds (first in 2001, second in 2004 and third in 2010) under a program of Pakistan Panel Household Survey (PPHS). The various studies have been analysed covering the following aspects of poverty; its characteristics causes of intergenerational poverty and evaluating the impact of poverty alleviation program.

  • By using the data of PPHS Arif and Farooq (2014) analysed the dynamics of rural poverty, its characteristics, and determinants.
  • Another study was conducted to examine the trends in child malnutrition during the last decade (2000 –2010) using two rounds of PPHS, and to find the correlation between poverty and child malnutrition. The study reveals that a high level of malnutrition exists among children, but there is no significant association between poverty and child malnourishment or between perceived food shortages and child malnutrition. The results rather suggest that exposure to disease is the major cause of poor child growth, and the latter cannot necessarily be solely attributed to poverty (Arif, et al. 2014).
  • The single cross-section data can be misleading to analyse the poverty trap. Therefore, PPHS provides a better picture of intergenerational poverty. The study of Javed and Mohammad (2014) concluded that a father’s socioeconomic status remains the most crucial determinant of the economic position of the son. A plausible explanation can be the lower investment in education does not enable the poor children to come out of poverty.
  • The study on Shocks and Vulnerability of Poor by Haq (2012) analyses the factors of vulnerability, defined as households’ exposure to shocks and their limited ability to mitigate the impact of these shocks by using data of PPHS-2010. The findings suggest that approximately one-fourth of the sampled households experienced an adverse shock during 2006-2010 in the form of natural/ agricultural shocks (51.1 percent), or economic shocks (3.3 percent), or social shocks (9.8 percent) or health shocks (35.8 percent).
  • The study by Arif, et al. (2012) analysed the impact of government interventions through the Lady Health Workers Program (LHWP) for improving the health and welfare of the poor in Pakistan.
  • The knowledge brief by Iqbal (2020) indicates that Pakistan headcount index has consistently declined in the last two decades from 50.4 percent in 2005-06 to 22.5 percent in 2018-19. However, estimates show that poverty has declined in all provinces except KPK where it increased from 18.1 percent in 2015-16 to 27 percent in 2018-19 (an increase of 8.9 percentage point). It reflects a significant downward movement of vulnerable in KPK.
  • The study of Nayab and Farooq (2014) suggested that Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) did not have an impact on household socio-economic wellbeing across and over time. It has been observed that there is a need to give space to the poor to grow as mere money handouts would not do so. A cash transfer cannot be a substitute for opportunity and exclusion from opportunity is the biggest reason for people staying poor.

Finally, PIDE took out a whole issue of its Policy and Research (P&R) magazine (2021) on issues related to poverty. This includes measuring poverty by different methods to evaluate the impact of different models on poverty alleviation like the Social Action Program (SAP) in the 1990s and the different micro-financing schemes.

METHODS TO ESTIMATE POVERTY

The official poverty rates have been estimated using the HIES surveys conducted by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Different approaches are used for estimating poverty that include Food energy intake method, Multidimensional poverty index and Cost of basic needs method. Government of Pakistan for the first time calculated its official estimates of poverty using CBN methodology in 2013-14, reason being CBN method is considered more efficient as it covers the moderate poverty and uses the criteria of minimum income required to remain non poor. So, we are using the Cost of Basic Needs Method (CBN) for ten Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) from 1998-99 to 2019-19 for estimating poverty. As the HIES was not conducted with regular intervals of time so there were some missing values for certain years. These missing values in the data set have been generated using the interpolation techniques by linear interpolation methods. This method applies a distinct linear polynomial between each pair of data points for curves, or within the sets of three points for surfaces. These poverty lines are adjusted for inflation based on consumer price Index (CPI). These adjusted poverty lines were then used to estimate poverty levels in four provinces at rural and urban level.  

POVERTY LINE

The cost of Basic Need (CBN) Method has been adopted to calculate the poverty line for various HIES starting from 1998-99 to 2018-19. The CBN Method uses food as well as non-food expenditures (clothing, shelter, education etc.) that are necessary for households for calculating the poverty line, focusing on households who can fully meet the Food Poverty Line at their current level of food expenditures. The estimated poverty line for 1998-99 was calculated at Rs 930 per adult equivalent per month. The poverty line for each year has been deflated by CPI inflation. The updated poverty line showing the increasing trend due to an increase in inflation, therefore for the year 2018-19 the poverty line per adult equivalent per month is reached RS 3776. The CBN poverty lines for various survey years are reported in Table 1.

Table 1 Poverty Line Estimates Using CBN Method Adjusted for CPI Inflation from 1998-99 to 2018-19 POVERTY RATES OVER TIME

Poverty rates have been calculated using the HIES surveys and the missing values in the data set have been generated using the interpolation techniques by linear interpolation methods. This method applies a distinct linear polynomial between each pair of data points for curves, or within the sets of three points for surfaces. It is an effort by PIDE to generate consistent series of poverty rates that can further be available for research purpose.

The below figure shows the poverty trend in Pakistan from 1998- 99 to 2018-19. It can be inferred from data that poverty estimates showed some mixed trend during the initial years of 2000 and the declining trend of poverty estimates started from 2005-06 and continued till 2018-19.

Poverty Trend in Pakistan: A Glimpse from Last Two Decades

Table 2 Poverty Rate from 1998-99 to 2018-19 POVERTY ESTIMATES FROM 1998-99 TO 2018-19

When we have a look at rural/urban categorisation of poverty estimates we see that rural poverty is significantly higher than urban poverty. The reason for these higher poverty figures against rural areas could be a greater percentage of people especially poor concentration in rural areas where they usually do not have access to health, education, and employment opportunities. According to Todaro (2000), around 80 to 90 percent of poor individuals in Africa and Asia live in rural areas.

The provincial estimates somehow give a clear picture of poverty across Pakistan at the regional level. In 1998-99, poverty was observed to be highest in the province of KPK at 71 percent and lowest in Balochistan at 55.9 percent but this trend is reversed in 2018-19 as the lowest percentage of poverty which is 16.3 percent was recorded in the province of Punjab and highest in Balochistan at 40.7percent. Many factors contribute towards such alarmingly high figure of poverty in Balochistan of which majors could be high levels of income inequality and low employment opportunities.

Poverty Trend in Pakistan: A Glimpse from Last Two Decades

POVERTY SLABS IN PAKISTAN FROM 1998 TO 2019

The headcount index measures the proportion of the population that is poor, but it does not indicate how poor the poor are. Therefore, the poverty situation defined through different poverty slabs has very serious policy implications as grouping people into different poverty slabs help in targeted policy initiatives for these groups. The five different levels of the poor defined for this research are Ultra poor people which are 50 percent below the poverty line, Poor-which are between 50 percent to 75 percent of the poverty line, Vulnerable poor group which are between 100 and 125 percent of the poverty line, Quasi poor-people which are greater than 125 percent and less than 200 percent of the poverty line and finally Non-Poor which are people above 200 percent of the poverty line.  The graph shows that percentage of ultra-poor has decreased significantly starting from 27 percent in 2005-06 to 5.5  percent in 2018-19. It is a good sign that extremely poor people have decreased over time. Those defined as the vulnerable poor show a mixed trend with the highest percentage at 22.1 percent in 2010-11 and lowest at 14.3 percent in 2001-02. Similarly, it has been observed for the non-poor as the non-poor percentage have increased from 8.5 percent in 2005-06 to 21.4 percent in 2018-19 which means that non-poor people have almost more than doubled from 2005-06 till 2018-19.

Poverty Trend in Pakistan: A Glimpse from Last Two Decades

CONCLUSIONS

The poverty rate in Pakistan has declined significantly from 1998 to 2019 and also by region urban and rural. The number of non-poor people has increased from 6.7 percent to 21.4 percent.  It means that the overall poverty level has reduced, and more people have got access to basic facilities like food, health, education, and employment. So, from the above analysis and literature, we can conclude that poverty levels have declined across Pakistan due to the following reasons.

  • (1) Periods of high economic growth translated into poverty reduction.
  • (2) Successful implementation of traditional and modern programs for alleviating poverty. These programs include the social safety net programs including the Ehsaas Strategy BISP, WWF and Zakat.

In the end, we would like to suggest that government must set some proper monitoring strategy that poorest of the poor people are getting benefits from the social safety net programs and these programs are acting as employment generation opportunities as it will help reduce poverty levels significantly.

Arif, G., & Farooq, S. (2014). Rural poverty dynamics in Pakistan: Evidence from three waves of the panel survey .  The Pakistan Development Review , 53 (2),  71–98. Arif, G., Farooq, F., Nazir, S., & Satti, M. (2014). Child malnutrition and poverty: The case of Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 53 ,  99–118. Arif, G., Nayab. D., Farooq, S., Nazir, S & Satti, M.(2012). Welfare impact of the health intervention in Pakistan: The case of lady health workers programme .  Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad. ( Poverty and Social Dynamics Paper Series  2012:07). Haq, R. (2015). Shocks as a source of vulnerability: An empirical investigation from Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 54,  245–272. Iqbal, N. (2020). National poverty estimates 2018-19 . Islamabad, Pakistan. Javed, S., & Irfan, M. (2014). Intergenerational mobility: Evidence from Pakistan panel household survey. The Pakistan Development Review, 53 ,  105–133. Nayab, D. and S. Farooq (2014). Effectiveness of cash transfer programmes for household welfare in Pakistan: The case of the Benazir income support programme. The Pakistan Development Review, 53 (2), 145–174. Pakistan, Government of (2018-19). Government of Pakistan, Finance Division. Retrieved from http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_1819.html Pakitan Bureau of Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pbs.gov.pk PIDE (2021). Including the excluding. Policy and Research , 2 (4). Todaro, Michael P. (2000), Economic development. (7th edition). Addison Wesley, p. 170.

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Who is poor in Pakistan today? Raising the basic standard of well-being in a changing society

Ghazala mansuri.

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Over 80 percent of Pakistanis consistently report that their economic wellbeing has either deteriorated or remained the same. Only 20 percent, disproportionately concentrated in the very top of the distribution, feel that they are better off and similarly small numbers believe that economic conditions have improved for their locality. If we took a poll today, it is possible that many of you would say that extreme poverty has risen rather than fallen. But in fact, the national data tells a completely different story! According to the national poverty line set in 2001, Pakistan has seen an exceptional decline in poverty—falling from nearly 35 percent in 2001 to less than 10 percent by 2013-14.  Moreover, these gains were not concentrated among those close to the poverty line. Even the poorest 5 percent of the population saw an improvement in living standards.

The increase in incomes is also evident when looking at other indicators of wellbeing. Access to toilet facilities for instance, has significantly improved; Among the poorest 20 percent of households, those without any type of toilet has been cut in half—from close to 60% to about 30%, while the ownership of assets like motorcycles has risen from only 2% to 18%; and many more of the poorest households now have refrigerators, televisions and stoves.   Most importantly, households have changed their dietary patterns in ways that are consistent with poverty reduction. Even the least advantaged families in Pakistan have moved towards a more diverse diet, with a greater consumption of dairy, meat, fruits and vegetables. Not only has their diet become more diverse, households also spend a smaller fraction of their total income on food items, preferring instead to spend more on nonfood items such as housing, utilities, education, health care and consumer goods, including leisure goods.   So what accounts for the gap between people’s perceptions of rising poverty and the evidence presented above? Perhaps it is the relative lack of improvement in basic public services, or a perception that there is too much corruption, or that only the wealthy and connected can get good jobs or set up businesses. Perhaps there is a sense that the gap between the rich and poor is growing. All of these issues are undoubtedly important, and rightfully influence people’s perceptions about their wellbeing. At the same time, they do not preclude a decline in extreme poverty. Further, our collective sense that too many are poor may actually be linked to the pace to development itself. As societies develop, ideas about the absolute minimum acceptable standard of well-being also change. More precisely, with development, the minimum requirements for a productive life and personal dignity grow, and this changes a society’s views about who is poor. Few would argue that Pakistan is the same country today that it was 15 years ago. As development has occurred our standards for what is a bare minimum level of existence have also risen – and this is a good thing. To anchor this idea, ask yourself: what percentage of Pakistanis ought to be considered too poor (in today’s Pakistan), to afford the minimum standard of living necessary for a productive life and for personal safety and dignity? If your answer is anywhere between 25% and 35%, you are with the majority! Call the poverty rate obtained through such a question the socially subjective poverty rate for Pakistan. A national poverty line, and poverty rate, is clearly most useful for guiding policy when it is well-aligned with overall development and therefore also with the socially subjective notion of who is poor. In this sense, the poverty line is always a policy choice. All societies that aim to build democratic and inclusive policies must respond to development by periodically raising the standard of living for their most vulnerable members. In the (now) developed world, governments have intervened time and again to help ensure that the standard of living for the most deprived improves with development. The government’s decision to set a new poverty line for Pakistan is extremely encouraging in this context. It was also necessary given the robust decline in poverty based on the old line. The new line, which uses an improved methodology, sets a minimum consumption threshold of Rs. 3030 per person per month. This translates to between Rs. 18,000 and Rs. 21,000 per month for a household at the poverty line, allowing nearly 30% of the population or close to 60 million people to be targeted for pro-poor and inclusive development policies—thus setting a much higher bar for inclusive development.   Why Rs. 3030 per person per month? Well, while the analysis that produces a national poverty line is based on nationally representative household consumption data, and uses a rigorous and well established method, it does not uniquely determine a value for the line. Rather, it provides a range of options, all of which are compatible with the data, but only a few of which are also consistent with society’s understanding of who is most deprived at a point in time. Pakistan’s new national poverty line is highly policy-relevant precisely because it resonates with the socially subjective view of who is poor today. Pakistan now needs to build on this bold decision by taking equally bold steps to scale up its efforts on other fronts. Things have not improved on key issues like child stunting or schooling or jobs, which will determine what the country’s future looks like. The true fruits of poverty reduction will only be fully evident when the quality of public service delivery and the quality of governance rise to meet the growing needs of the population, and key services are accessible to all Pakistanis.

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Essay on Poverty in Pakistan with Outline

poverty in pakistan essay in easy wording

  • November 27, 2023

Kainat Shakeel

Poverty is a pervasive issue affecting millions of lives encyclopedically. In the environment of Pakistan, this socioeconomic challenge has been a longstanding concern that demands comprehensive disquisition and strategic interventions. 

Economic Challenges:

  • Unemployment: One of the primary contributors to poverty in Pakistan is Unemployment. A significant portion of the population struggles to find stable employment, aggravating the fiscal rigors faced by numerous homes. 
  • Low Agricultural Productivity: The agrarian sector, a vital part of Pakistan’s frugality, faces challenges similar to outdated husbandry practices and inadequate access to ultramodern technology. This results in lower productivity, affecting both growers and consumers. 
  • Profitable inequality:  A widening gap between the rich and the poor composites the issue. profitable inequality hampers the distribution of coffers and openings, immortalizing the cycle of poverty. 

Social Impacts of Poverty:

  • Lack of Access to Education: Poverty frequently deprives individuals of educational openings, limiting their eventuality for particular and professional growth. This lack of access perpetuates the cycle of poverty through generations. 
  • Healthcare Challenges: Impoverished communities face shy healthcare services, leading to an advanced frequency of preventable conditions. The incapability to go to medical care further deepens the impact of poverty on health. 
  • casing and Living Conditions: Poor living conditions, including shy casing and sanitation, pose significant challenges to those living in poverty. Addressing these issues is pivotal for breaking the cycle of poverty. 

Government Initiatives:

  • Poverty Alleviation Programs: The government has enforced colorful poverty relief programs to address the issue. These enterprises aim to give fiscal support, education, and healthcare to vulnerable populations. 
  • Social Welfare Initiatives: Social weal programs play a pivotal part in supporting marginalized communities. still, challenges in perpetration, similar to regulatory hurdles and corruption, hamper the effectiveness of this enterprise. 
  • International Assistance in Combating Poverty: transnational associations contribute coffers and moxie to palliate poverty in Pakistan. Collaboration between original and global realities is essential for creating sustainable results. 

Cultural Factors:

  • Impact of Cultural Morals on Poverty: Cultural morals can either immortalize or challenge the cycle of poverty. Examining and addressing artistic factors is pivotal for enforcing effective poverty reduction strategies. 
  • Breaking the Cycle of Poverty Through Cultural Changes: Encouraging artistic shifts that prioritize education, gender equivalency, and community commission is essential for breaking the cycle of poverty. 
  • Addressing pastoral Poverty: fastening agrarian development, structure advancements, and access to education can help palliate pastoral poverty, contributing to overall profitable growth. 

Technology and Poverty Alleviation:

  • Technological inventions in Poverty Reduction: Advancements in technology, similar to mobile banking and digital communication, have the eventuality to hoist communities by furnishing access to fiscal services and information. 
  • The part of Digital knowledge: Promoting digital knowledge is pivotal for ensuring that technological advancements profit all parts of society. Education in digital chops opens doors to profitable openings. 

Education as a Catalyst:

  • Empowering Through Education: Investing in education is an important strategy for poverty reduction. Empowered individuals are better equipped to break free from the constraints of poverty. 
  • Vocational Training and Skill Development: Beyond traditional education, vocational training, and skill development programs empower individuals to enter the pool with marketable chops. 

Women commission:

Empowering women is central to poverty reduction sweats. furnishing women with education, healthcare, and profitable openings appreciatively impacts families and communities. 

Public Mindfulness and Advocacy:

  • The significance of Raising mindfulness: Creating mindfulness about the impact of poverty fosters a sense of responsibility and solidarity, encouraging collaborative sweat to address the issue. 
  • Advocacy for Policy Changes: championing policy changes is essential for creating an enabling terrain that supports poverty reduction enterprise. 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, understanding and addressing poverty in Pakistan is a multifaceted approach. Economic, social, and artistic factors must be considered, with a focus on collaboration between the government, NGOs, and transnational mates. By empowering individualities, communities, and women

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Poverty eradication in Pakistan: Past, present, and future

Blog 12 Oct 2020 State and COVID-19

While the current government in Pakistan has taken a multi-dimensional approach and introduced some measures to eradicate poverty, along with specific COVID-19 emergency interventions, many challenges still remain. We lay out our thoughts below on whether Pakistan is on track to achieving SDG1 by 2030 , given that another 10 million are expected to move into poverty due to the pandemic.

Over the past two decades, Pakistan has made significant progress in fighting poverty, reducing it by more than half since 2000. As one of the first countries in the world to declare Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of its national development agenda and updating the national poverty line in 2016 [1] , Pakistan has remained committed to improving multi-dimensional poverty measures.

Progress in the last decade

As per the latest official figures , the poverty headcount ratio declined from 29.5% in 2013-14 to 24.3% in 2015-16. Of all 114 countries for which the World Bank measures poverty indices, Pakistan was amongst the top 15 that showed the largest annual average percentage point decline between 2000 and 2015.  Despite this, by 2015, around 50 million people still lived below the national poverty line. Since then, the pace of poverty reduction has slowed down. This is partly due to the macroeconomic crisis resulting from structural economic issues and the lack and inadequate implementation of pro-poor policies.

Measuring poverty

Lack of accurate and consistent poverty estimates has been a key hindrance in formulating effective pro-poor policies in Pakistan. The use of monetary poverty lines tied to currency conversion rates with differing purchasing power parities, along with the use of different methodologies has led to inconsistent measures. For instance, between 2010 and 2015, show a decline in poverty headcount while an independent policy think tank estimated that around 38% of the population was still living below the poverty line in 2015; which in absolute terms meant an additional 13 million people falling into poverty . Bureaucratic and political delays in regularly updating the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) survey has also led to issues in targeting (the last round of the NSER survey was carried out in 2010-11).

In 2016, the government tailored a widely used global poverty measure, the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), for Pakistan. The aim was to capture the three main deprivation indicators: education, health, and living standards. Based on 2017-18 estimates , 38.3% of the population was deprived in at least one of the three indicators - an improvement from previous years, largely from progress in sanitation and child mortality. However, deprivation resulting from a  lack of access to electricity increased.

COVID-19 and increased vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities play a central role in perpetuating poverty as poor households lack necessary human, financial, and physical capital to withstand the negative impacts of sudden shocks. It is no surprise that COVID-19 is expected to be up to  10 times more deadly for the poor . A recent UNDP study of 70 countries, including Pakistan, estimated that COVID-19 may set poverty levels back by 9 years, with an additional 490 million people falling into multidimensional poverty.

Prior to COVID-19, Pakistan’s economy was already struggling with a fiscal crisis and undergoing an IMF-sponsored macroeconomic stabilisation programme. With one of the lowest human development indicators around, the government estimates that 56.6% of the population has now become socio-economically vulnerable due to COVID-19. As one of the youngest countries in the world, with nearly two-thirds of the population under the age of 30, a consistent GDP growth rate of 7% is required to absorb the young workforce. With a projected growth rate of only 2% post-pandemic, unemployment rates may rise drastically, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Despite a declining poverty rate over the past few years, the IMF has also projected a sharp reversal ahead, which may push almost 40% of Pakistanis below the national poverty line. The cost of the expected economic slowdown due to COVID-19 containment measures, invariably relying on some form of lockdown, will mostly be borne by the estimated 24.89 million daily wage earners, piece-rate workers, and self-employed in. These groups are more vulnerable to pandemic-induced poverty due to a lack of access to social protection programmes.

What didn’t work in the past

Pakistan has a long history of poverty reduction policies and interventions. However, the persistently high poverty levels reflect the inadequacy of these measures resulting mainly from a focus on static measures and limited outreach. Poverty reduction programmes account for just about 2% of GDP ; due to lack of coordination, inefficient implementation, and inadequate monitoring and evaluation, there is often duplication and fragmentation across these programmes.

Despite deep-rooted economic inequalities and the sheer number of people impacted, policymakers have largely steered clear of addressing the issue of inequality . It is estimated that 40% of all children born in abject poverty will remain in the lowest income quintile, another 40% will improve slightly from very poor to poor, while only 10% will be able to transition out during their lifetime [2] . Research also shows that while relatively high economic growth in 2001-04 was not pro-poor, the low growth period of 2005-10 saw better poverty indices. This indicates that policy interventions for the poor are not all the same; there is a need to have a more targeted approach for transitionary and inter-generational chronic poor.

What Pakistan has done right

Early indications point to the government’s commitment to poverty reduction, as it has pledged to  reduce poverty by 6 percentage points to 19% by 2023. Measures include increasing poverty alleviation expenditures and ensuring that vulnerable groups such as women, children, and people with disabilities receive needed aid.

One such measure is the integration of more than 134 fragmented and insufficiently managed social protection programmes, and prone to political manipulation, under ‘Ehsaas’. This is a new overarching programme launched in 2019, built on the framework developed under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). BISP is one of South Asia’s largest cash transfer programmes and Pakistan’s flagship social protection initiative. Launched in 2008, BISP currently caters to 5.7 million ultra-poor families via unconditional cash transfers to women.

In response to COVID-19, the government quickly implemented the Ehsaas Emergency Program me, under which low-income households gained access to financial assistance through text messages. In the first phase of this programme, 12 million families were provided with a monthly stipend of 12,000 PKR ($72). More recently, the programme has been extended to include 17 million families, around half of the total population of Pakistan.

The government has also made efforts to de-politicise poverty measures . There is great optimism that under the current government, the NSER survey, which will cover at least 27 million households, will be completed by 2021 and enable smart poverty targeting.

Is Pakistan still on track to achieve SDG1?

Even before the pandemic, Pakistan was categorised as being ‘off track’ to halve multidimensional poverty by 2030, and less likely to achieve SDG1 with current interventions. This has largely been due to inadequate policy responses from successive governments, despite some good progress on poverty alleviation in the early 2000s. The current government, however, has taken some steps in the right direction. While there is growing consensus on the benefits of a rapid policy response, there has historically been a lack of focus on more long-term sustainable efforts.

There is increasing evidence, across South Asia, that an ‘income-mediated’ approach to SDG1 will have limited success and more ‘expenditure led’ policies are required.  Looking ahead, well-informed income and poverty projections can provide a blueprint for more proactive, targeted and sustainable policies, with a focus on alleviating extreme poverty.

[1] Research by Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in collaboration with Oxfam.

[2] Instead of using the Food Energy Intake (FEI) approach, a Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) approach is now employed

Poverty eradication in Mozambique: Progress and challenges amid COVID-19

Poverty eradication in india: successes and shortcomings of social protection, high incidence of violent crime may drive geographic chronic poverty, tackling extreme poverty: in conversation with robin burgess, more from igc, energrow: providing asset financing for productive use of energy products in uganda, igc evidence papers - state effectiveness, energy access explorer: an open access tool to enable data-driven energy planning, concessions: nuru’s experience in the drc’s electricity sector.

Ratta.pk

Monday 27 February 2017

Poverty in pakistan english essay - causes, impacts and solutions.

Poverty in Pakistan English Essay - Causes, Impacts and Solutions

WHAT IS POVERTY

Who is poor, poverty as a social problem, causes of poverty, i. lack of getting benefit with natural resources: , ii. avoid low quality work: , iii. lack of hard work leads to drug addiction: , vi. anti social habits: , v. lack of religious education: , vi. wastage of economic resources: , vii. unemployment: , viii. blame on fate/wrong perceptive of tawakal: , ix. wrong religious beliefs: , x. illiteracy: , xi. ignorance: , impacts of poverty, solution of poverty, i. elimination of unemployment:, ii. persuasion for labor and hard work: , iii. technical education to beggar: , iv. promotes culture of saving: , v. technical and semi technical education: , vi promotion of education: , vii. women empowerment: , viii: improved agriculture: , ix. better infrastructure: , x. extension of micro credit: , xi. reduce population growth rate: , you may also like:.

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Essay About Poverty In Pakistan

Prepare the Essay About Poverty In Pakistan  for class 10 and 11 Students: It was seen that at the time of the independence of Pakistan in 1947, our country inherited the backward parts of South Asia, we have only one university, we have one Textile Mill and only one Jute Factory but our per Capita GNP remains so far the highest in South Asia. But due to the Global financial crisis, the occupation of Afghanistan, they have impacted the Pakistani growth. The poverty rate in Pakistan has been historically higher in rural areas and it is lower in the cities. 30 million have been living in rural areas and poverty has risen sharply in the 1990s. It is According to the World Bank’s Poverty Head Count Analysis for the year of 2014 that if income per adult in Pakistan will be taken as $1.25 per day, then the 21.04% of the population actually lives below the poverty line and it is according to 2008 population estimates.

Essay About Poverty In Pakistan With Outlines

Essay About Poverty In Pakistan

  • Biotechnology Scope In Pakistan April 6, 2023

Causes Of Poverty in Pakistan:

  • Lack Of Governance

Pakistan is run by military dictatorships for the large periods of its time, this led to rapid kind of policy changes. It is due to the Political instability, macroeconomic imbalances that they have been reflecting the poor! It is viewed that Pakistan’s major cities are home to 1.2 million street children that includes beggars and also scavengers. It is too due to the law and order problem which has worsened this condition. When the governance will run under the Islamic rules and regulations it will only be grown up respectively otherwise we are frequently going beneath a load of poor governance in each matter of life.

    2.  Feudal Culture

This is one of the biggest cause of poverty in Pakistan. It is a fact that Pakistan is home to a large kind of feudal landholding system. It is estimated that 51% of poor tenants actually owe money to the landlords, these landlords’ position allows them to exploit the resources of the poor. Our cultural influence was that to promote the betterment and to demolish the increasements, but the current situation is interrupting the creative minds and we are going back day by day in the race of poverty. We should cultivate the feudal culture from Pakistan so that we can utilize our abilities to overcome the mother of all the crimes poverty from Pakistan.

    3. Overpopulation

Yes of course! the overpopulation is also a big cause of poverty in Pakistan. It is because the rapidly increasing the number of population is rapidly decreasing the number of resources to meet the required ratio for the public around. Overpopulation invites numerous social evils such as the less number of jobs against the big number of applications. Similarly, more population requires more resources to manage them which directly and indirectly requires the money which is also causing the poverty in Pakistan.

    4. Corrupt Culture

The biggest example of corrupt culture is in front of us by the imprisonment of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif on state-level corruptions. No one knows the actual reality behind it but the bad effects are imprinting on the history of Pakistan which is pushing the nation in the darkness of poverty and lots of other living issues. It is this sad fact that our politicians fill up their pockets, they fill up their bank accounts with the budget, with that foreign aid dollars and do not give the poor their due share. We are requiring a pure leader and politician who just play for the betterment of Pakistan but not for his own.

   5. Low Literacy Rate

It is too because of the low literacy rate that our citizens of Pakistan have failed to stand on their feet, they could not get their education and in return, they fail to get know-how of any practical task. Education is costly for a job holding person to compete it. while the difference between English medium schools, Urdu medium schools, private and government schools is the actual reason behind this factor. If the government offers educations on free of cost for a job holder person then it will be easy for him to admit his child and long-running results will over root the low literacy rate and our motherland will grow up with the hands of youth.

How to Overcome Poverty In Pakistan:

In my essay about poverty in Pakistan, I think it will be an important part of the discussion if I share my ideas about the over the root of poverty effects. So in this way, I would like to say that the above main and the most effective causes of poverty should be eliminated simultaneously. The process will start from the upper level and that is our politicians and leaders. After that, the government should work under the rules of purity and devotions so that no one can go out of rules and regulations even he is a common person or a government officer. rules should be equal for all. Thirdly, the government has to pay special attention to education. If our child will be studied properly they will learn more and more and an educated person is always civilized and has better opportunities for doing work and earning money which is the primary part of demolishing the poverty from our country.

The government of Pakistan should now understand this saying that if you give a man a fish, he will eat that fish on that day only, but teaching him how to fish, he will keep on be eating that fish on every single day. We have to teach each of the citizens of Pakistan so that he may earn on his own.

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poverty in pakistan essay in easy wording

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  • Causes of Poverty
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The Economic Implications of Poverty in Pakistan

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Poverty in Pakistan English Essay with Causes, Impacts and Solutions

Poverty in Pakistan English Essay with Causes, Impacts and Solutions

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Poverty in Pakistan Essay – Causes, Impacts and Solutions:

Poverty is a social problem of Pakistan with the fact that most of the people have limited economic resources and their standard of living is low. The people have been deprived of modern facilities in education, health, communication and good food. Such people are worried due to lack of income resources and they are unable to fulfill their needs’ to live a life parallel to their neighbored. In this age of competition they feel deprived of their rights and inferiority complex prevails upon them. They feel shy in sitting with the well off families. They are not given marital relations with well off people because they are disliked due to poverty.

These people are mostly illiterate and their friendship is with the people of same type.. That is why their standard of life does not rise without education and economic resources. Poverty itself is a social problem because the poor people are unable to follow the new trends and they fail to adopt new modes in social life.

Poverty is a social problem because they have failed to increase their income resources. Poverty, is called to be a social problem because these people lag behind the advancing people and do not understand the ways of progress:They are mostly frustrated when their needs of life are not fulfilled. In frustration they become aggressive and may commit such acts which are criminal in nature. Due to hatred by others they take reaction and get into criminal activities. They destroy the vehicles and property of rich people due to economic disparity. Sometimes a child of rich man is abducted. Sometimes his car is lifted and sometimes” a dacoity is put in his house. This leads to more heinous crime like murder on the rich man. In this way. poverty being a social problem creates other social problems of serious nature.

WHAT IS POVERTY

i. Bargata & Borgata define:

“the word Poverty is derived from French word Pauvre’, meaning poor. Material possession of having little or no more means to “support one self is called poverty”.

ii. Ian Robertson defines:

“Poverty is the inability to maintain minimal standards of food, clothing, shelter and health care”.

iii. Most comprehensive definition was given by Lewis: “poverty not only as economic deprivation, or’ the absence of something but also as a way of life, the” personal of sub-cultural values and attitudes passed down from generation to generation”.

WHO IS POOR?

According to World Bank, “a person earning less than one US dollar a day is called poor”. POVERTY AS A SOCIAL PROBLEM Poverty is a social problem because it gives birth to many Social problem which are given below:

  • Poverty generates illiteracy and ignorance. Many children are unable to get education due to this problem. Millions of children every year prefer to earn instead of education because of economic problem.
  • Terrorism is also a product of poverty Terrorists trap Young children and poor youths by giving lots of money and trained them to become terrorists to destabilize the country.
  • Crime & Social evils: Crime and social evils are produced under the. umbrella of poverty. People Commit crime due to poverty. A lot of social evils are also produced because of it.
  • Disturbs Economic and Social Growth: Poverty also hampers economic & social growth of country which disturbs the whole nation. So it is stated that poverty is a social problem and also is, a mother of many other social problems.

CAUSES OF POVERTY

There is a number of causes of poverty, which are given below:

i. lack of Getting Benefit with Natural Resources:

We are unable to get economic resources from the natural environment gifted by God to us. it is the land, hills, mountains, rivers and falls from which we Can get wealth by our technical skills. We can control and divert the waters flowing from mountains into dams from which power can be generated and the canals for irrigation.

ii. Avoid low Quality Work:

The people of our nation avoid hard work and labor. They, feel shy in working down in the street, and on the road. They think themselves to be respectable by not working in labor but wearing a dress clean and tidy. This concept of respect and prestige puts them into dingy house, dirty places to live and low standard food to eat with missing facilities of sanitation in their residential areas.

iii. lack of Hard Work leads to drug addiction:

Such people who avoid hard work lead a life of poor man and mostly indulge in drug addiction. They get into heroine, churs and other things of abuse. The prohibited acts get into their habits and they involve in delinquent activities, which leads to criminal actions in life.

vi. Anti Social Habits:

Jobless and workless people also fall into such habits, which are anti social like, ‘gambling, drinking, cheating, theft and robbery. Such people feel themselves satisfied in associates of these types. They remain satisfied and get things stolen from house for fulfillment of their needs. Smoking and telling a lie are bad habit develop in general behavior of such workless adults. They are idle and useless persons hated by good citizens.

v. Lack of Religious Education:

They avoid getting into religious education and hate moral and cultural values of Islam. They disobey their parents and elders of family. They walk late at night out of home in company of associates of such habits.. Ultimately they become criminals in adult life.

vi. Wastage of Economic Resources:

Another cause of poverty is wasting the economic resources. If the savings are not protected the family faces problems in future. Ill health and other necessities of food and dress require money from saving. If saving is poor, then these problems create heavy tension and disturbance on the members of family.

vii. Unemployment:

Unemployment is the most important cause of poverty. Those young men, who are unable to get jobs can do works of low standards available to them. They can work in farms. They can work in factories and In business centers at low wages. They feel shy to do so and consider these jobs to the below standards. In such cases, unemployment is self created by them, because our culture is simple and non-technical. Employment chances are few for a large number of people. Therefore, unemployment cannot be blamed as main cause of poverty. We can choose other works on construction of buildings, on shoe mending, working with tailors and carpenters, electrical works and works of techniques on machines. There are mechanical works available frequently around us in which job can be taken according to the Wishes of the owner. This minimum and 10w wage also provides a back ground and foot step towards progress of the future.

viii. Blame on Fate/Wrong Perceptive of Tawakal:

Some people believe that it is the fate1 which is, responsible for our Poverty. No doubt it is true but the basic factor according to sharait of Islam is work and hard work. According to a Hadith of Holy Prophet (peace he upon) “one Should adopt any profession for earning his livelihood. Here adoption of profession has not been said as the only principle. He must be expert and highly qualified and trained in his profession that his work is free from mistake”. We see today the western countries are followers of this a Hadith and we go there for higher education, medical treatment and for equipment and machinery because they are expert of all these productions. This hadith as narrated by Imam Ghazali in his book “Kemya-e-Saadat”, the great imam of the time said that Muslims take wrong meaning of “Twakkal”, that is why they remain poor. It does not mean to wait for better results Without works. He says that work is basic foundation for the result of success.

ix. Wrong Religious Beliefs:

Some people have wrong religious beliefs in future events of life. They say that Allah will forgive all Sinners by virtue of His mercy. This is wrong interpreted because Allah presented a principle of judgment between right and wrong on the Day of Judgment. Every good and bad event will be measured on the scale and man will be rewarded or punished accordingly. He can do mercy upon any one whom He likes, but this is not general principle for all. Those who believe in this authority of Allah, are misguided persons. Because Allah said that He does not deviate from His principles laid down by Him in the Holy Quran and this principle has been described by Shah Wali Ullah Mohadith Dahlvi in his book “Hujja-TulIah-hu-Balgha”.

  • Control on wastage of resources must be made for the preservation of resources of the people.
  • Technical and non technical training to be provided to those people who are without work.

x. Illiteracy:

Illiteracy is also a major reason of poverty as illiterate person possesses less potential and skills. He is not well groomed and trained for getting better economic and social status in society or a higher and prestigious job. Therefore, he is trapped in the net of poverty forever.

xi. Ignorance:

Ignorance is also one of the main reason of poverty where people have better economic resources are victimize of this cause. As people of the rural areas of Pakistan sell their acres and spend the whole life and money in judicial proceeding with their neighbor or Counterpart Without knowing and calculating the losses and benefits.

IMPACTS OF POVERTY

I. Caused crime:

When resources are not enough to meet the basic needs of life, people sometimes do not abide by the law and commit crime. Due to poverty, economic crimes are committed in society such as robbery, dacoit, kidnapping etc.

ii. Beggary:

Poverty creates beggars in Society. Most of the beggars in society are begging ,due to poverty not due to cultural constraints. This includes deaf, dumb, disabled, old aged, children, widows etc.

iii. Social evils:

Poverty cerates social evils in society. Due to this, people are unable to follow the norms and values of society. In result they become the victim of social evils.

iv. Drug addiction:

Generally, poor are the victims of addiction like, heroin, alcohol, marijuana etc. These kinds of people are usually found on the foot path of the roads in unconscious state. They even some times are unable to tell their name and whereabouts.

v. Violation of values and norms:

Poor generally are unable to follow the norms and values of society, hence they violate for the sake of money, food and shelter.

vi. Low quality of life:

Poor enjoy low quality of life in every walk of life. They are unable to get better education, avail better health facility, live in better place and house, and eat better, delicious and hygienic food. Hence there quality of life is very poor.

vii. Ill health:

Poverty negatively strikes on the health of the poor. It is observed that poor do not enjoy better health. They are the victim of epidemics like malaria, cholera, gestro and other sever diseases

viii. Low social status:

Due to above mentioned consequences and impacts of Poverty; poor people do not enjoy better social status in society. They are considered at the lower bottom of society.

SOLUTION OF POVERTY

Following are the solutions of poverty.

i. Elimination of unemployment:

People should be given It should be effort of the government that no one should remain unemployed. At least, every one should earn and meet own expenses of life.

ii. Persuasion for Labor and hard work:

Unemployment should be converted into employment and hardworking. For this purpose, people who do not want to do. menial work should be persuaded and given incentives to do all kinds of job.

iii. Technical education to beggar:

Those who are poor and beggar may be given technical education. In this way, their potential will be utilized in a better way. For this purpose, special technical training institutes for the beggars may be started in every big city of the country.

iv. Promotes culture of saving:

Our society is lack in saving and people use to spend more than their income. This kind of attitude is one of the major factors of under growth and poverty. People should be given incentives and motivated to save more for the coming generation. This kind of culture may be promoted.

v. Technical and semi technical education:

People should be given technical and semi technical education. This kind of education may be extended up to the rural areas because incidence of poverty is more in rural areas than the urban areas. Finial assistance may also be given to such kinds of people.

vi. Promotion of education:

Importance and benefits of the education and literacy may be conveyed to the people because education enables individuals to get better jobs in society. A special effort may be started for the rural areas because illiteracy is more in rural areas.

vii. Women empowerment:

Women are the fifty percent of the population. Very little chunk of the women of our society are well educated and doing job. They should be given technical and vocational skills, so that they could start some work at their home. In this Way, they will remain in the house and productively utilize their free time.

Viii: Improved agriculture:

68% of the total population lives rural areas Most of them are attached with the agriculture. I agriculture is enhanced.and made more profitable business, positive impacts on the poverty reduction can be observed. Therefore, agriculture may be improve.d by introducing new technology, seeds, pesticides and other agricultural inputs. Problems related with agriculture may also be addressed on priority basis.

ix. Better infrastructure:

Status of infrastructure may also be improved. New roads, bridges, Water supply schemes and health facilities should be constructed up to the remote areas of the country. Farm to market road may also be constructed on emergency basis because Pakistan is an agricultural country. 1t is need of the time that farms should be well connected to the market.

x. Extension of micro credit:

Already a number of micro credit organizations and banks like Puhjab Rural Support Program (PRSP), National Rural support Program (NRSP), Khushhali bank and first micro credit bank are giving small, credit to the poor people to start business or enterprise. This kind of services should be extended up to the remote rural areas of Pakistan..

xi. Reduce population growth rate:

The most important step is to reduce population growth. There should be harmony between economic growth and population growth. Without stooping it, every step taken to reduce poverty will be futile. So this hold be given due importance.

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Home > Books > Poverty, Inequality and Policy

Poverty and Its Alleviation: The Case of Pakistan

Submitted: 20 October 2016 Reviewed: 03 April 2017 Published: 04 October 2017

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68960

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This chapter aims to look at the current status of poverty and existing social policies in Pakistan. Poverty is one of the concerns for the governments of almost all countries including Pakistan. There is a continuous research on the policy measurements by national and international organizations in Pakistan, which demonstrated the decline in poverty. The government has launched many social policies in the past three decades to help the nation in reducing the poverty. Apart from government, many national and international organizations have also contributed a lot in the effort of reducing the poverty. However, there is very little research available on the effectiveness of these social policies, and on the need of social policy areas in particular. Disparity among the urban and rural population is another important factor, which has been discussed in almost every research on poverty. Still, very few social policies in Pakistan are focusing on rural population. Therefore, the issue of social policy needs fresh exploration in the country, which is necessary to make new social policies that can benefit all citizens.

  • poverty alleviation
  • economic development
  • gender inequality
  • inclusive social policy
  • poverty trap

Author Information

Muhammad azeem ashraf *.

  • Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, China

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

It is a concern of every government to respond to the necessities of equality legislation. Approaches, obstacles, and practices of judgment are some simple values that respond universally, rather than individually. Cultural and systemic change at policy and practice levels is very important to develop an inclusive culture [ 1 ]. Accordingly, developing a social policy does not provide the desired outcomes until it has been offered with the best environment and ground support, for these policies to be implemented. The notion of poverty is not new in Pakistan as many studies have been conducted at both national (Government of Pakistan; Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) and international institutions (World Bank; United Nations). Most of these studies used household surveys based on consumption model to calculate the severity of poverty at national and provincial levels.

In contexts of Pakistan, poverty has always been higher in rural than urban areas. Pakistan has shown a decline in the poverty during 1970s and 1980s, but the trend reversed in the 1990s. Poverty rose more sharply in the rural areas in the 1990s, and the incidence of rural poverty was significantly higher than urban poverty [ 2 ]. Inequality in both urban and rural areas also increased in Pakistan during the 1990s, which enhanced the negative impact on poverty. Although agriculture is the main activity in rural society, a significant percentage of the rural labor force, estimated at more than 40%, depends completely on nonfarm activities. The development of nonfarm activities appears to have been severely affected by low economic growth, weakening in public sector development expenditure, and lower worker remittances during the 1990s.

Social policies of some kind have been applied in Pakistan. It is their significance to additional social and human development, which tends to differ. However, social policies are often not conceptualized as social policies in the development context, but rather dealt with, in a broader concept of social development or in the context of poverty reduction strategies. The aim of this chapter is to examine what kind of social policies represent social benefits and what is their relation to social development. In the area of social policies, it is further concerned about social services, such as education and health services. Thus, this chapter examines the case of poverty in Pakistan, the government’s efforts for reducing poverty, and the need to improve the social policy structure in the country.

In this regard, institutions that certainly affect individual preferences are considered. Regions with low poverty are the essential determinants of social policies as well as political struggles. Looking at the diagram of Pakistan, institutional structures are constructing individual preferences. Institutions are trying to work together in order to provide future protection to their employees, but it divided the social structure. Therefore, the state employees or employees belonging to social schemes may have future protection. However, workers in rural or agricultural fields who do not meet the criteria to join social schemes do not have future protection.

2. Poverty in Pakistan: statistics and facts

2.1. calculating poverty.

Calculating a poverty line grounded on some lowest standard level of consumption and assessing the proportion of population below that line, are the most frequently used standard for the measurement of income or consumption‐related poverty. However, Planning Commission of Pakistan has recommended an official poverty line in 2000, after 53 years of its independence. According to the definition of Planning Commission, the official poverty line for Pakistan will be estimated on 2350 calories per adult equivalent per day. This is based on an adult equivalent intake of 2150 calories in the urban areas and 2450 calories in the rural areas. Recent trends of poverty in Pakistan are being presented in Table 1 .

Year Poverty Study
1987–1988 13.0 [ ]
1990–1991 17.26 [ ]
1992–1993 22.40 [ ]
1992–1993 25.50 [ , ]
1998–1999 35.2 [ , ]
2001–2002 34.5 [ ]
2004–2005 23.9 [ ]
2005–2006 22.3 [ ]
2007–2008 17.2 [ ]
2010–2011 12.4 [ ]

Table 1.

Trends in poverty, based on different studies.

The above data illustrate that the incidence of poverty is not constant. There is a persistent decline in poverty based on official poverty evaluation since 2000–2001. There was an elevation in poverty during 1987–1988 to 1998–1999. It was still nearby in 2001–2002 (34.5%). But, it was followed by sudden decline of more than 10% in 2004–2005. Following years from 2004 to 2011 indicates further decline in poverty. Nevertheless, this trend of fast decreasing in poverty has not only created a huge disturbance in the media, but also among development authorities and civil society [ 11 ]. But, these trends obtained a support from independent evaluation by the World Bank, which revised the trends in poverty and accepted the decline in poverty [ 10 ].

2.2. Human development index

According to a recent global survey [ 12 ], Pakistan is ranked at 147 out of 188 countries in 2014, which is very low in term of human development, and also lower than neighboring countries like India (130), Bangladesh (142), Iran (69), and Sri Lanka (73). Pakistan scored 0.538 points on human development index (HDI) of 2014, which showed improvement of 0.002 points from previous year, but did not change the overall ranking. Recent trends of HDI in Pakistan are presented in Table 2 .

Year 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
HDIpoints 0.356 0.380 0.399 0.424 0.444 0.495 0.522 0.527 0.532 0.536 0.538

Table 2.

Trends in human development index.

The trends in HDI show a continuous increase in points from 1980 to 2014. However, the ranking of Pakistan remains in very low human development index countries.

Access to education is still a major challenge to Pakistan. Even though enrollment rates for primary school have increased in the past, these are still very low compared to universal values, and also lower than other low‐income countries. Similar to poverty, there are major regional, rural‐urban and gender disparities. A recent research has shown a relationship between literacy rate and poverty by calculating four indicators (literacy of household heads, their educational attainment, the presence of a literate woman in a household, and highest qualification in a household) [ 14 ]. This study showed that families with higher education levels are less exposed to poverty. For example, in Punjab province, poverty was three and half times higher in families headed by an illiterate person than families headed by literate persons. In Sindh province, 55% of poor families were headed by illiterate persons compared to 27% of poor families headed by literate persons.

Health situation and access to health services are other major challenges to Pakistan. All indicators stay at low levels except immunization rate, which points out reduced development. It could be due to very low public spending on health (0.3% of GDP), comparing with regional (0.9% in South Asia) and low‐income countries (1.6%). Similarly, infant mortality rate and life expectancy are very low [ 10 ].

Gender inequality is another issue which poses a major challenge to Pakistan. Female literacy rates remain low at 42%. Health status of women is also worse than men, and it is affected by the lack of information, mobility, and social norms. The idea of gender includes our hope about the characteristics, approaches, and behavior of women and men, and is vital in facilitating gender analysis. Majority of the females are earning less monthly income as compared to males in both urban and rural areas of Pakistan. Majority of the female in rural and urban areas of Pakistan belongs to low‐income groups [ 15 ]. So, there is a clear indication that feminization of poverty or gender inequality exists in both urban and rural areas of Pakistan.

2.3. Regional disparity

Regional disparity among rural and urban areas is well seen in Pakistan. The higher rate of increase in poverty in the rural areas has prompted debate on growth and productivity trends in the agriculture sector. Recent trends of poverty in rural and urban regions are being presented in Table 3 .

Year Rural Urban Studies
1984 41 29 [ ]
1993–1994 47 24 [ ]
1998–1999 32.11 26.39 [ , ]
2001–2002 41.02 26.47 [ , ]
2004–2005 28.1 14.9 [ ]
2005–2006 27.0 13.1 [ ]
2007–2008 20.6 10.1 [ ]

Table 3.

Trends in urban and rural poverty, based on different studies.

It is very clear from the above table that there is a huge disparity between urban and rural poverty. Even though both rural and urban poverty decline with every passing year, the decline in urban poverty is greater than rural poverty. Similarly, a research had established an outline that concentration of chronic poverty is found in rural areas of the country [ 20 ]. However, different poverty lines have been debated in recent research that has put the urban poverty figure on the higher side.

However, the comparison of poverty levels among agroclimatic zones is very important in poverty studies [ 21 , 22 ]. Another research exposed the difference of poverty among agricultural and other zones of the country [ 14 ]. In this research, it is confirmed that the barani 1 zone has lowest poverty rate compared to other regions of country. Rawalpindi division has less poverty because of job opportunities in Islamabad capital, armed forces, overseas migration, and strong rural‐urban linkages. However, poverty is relatively higher in Southern Punjab (cotton‐wheat zone) and Sindh than other zones of these provinces. There is a very important factor that can be drawn from the regional difference among agricultural and nonagricultural regions in the Punjab province. Northern Punjab, which has the lowest level of poverty in the country, is agriculturally poor region with the lowest cultivated area per capita, and no irrigation. On the other hand, Southern Punjab, despite its highest cultivated area per capita and 100% irrigation, is one of the poorest regions in the country.

3. Government efforts to reduce poverty

Pakistan does not have any general or universal social protection system that covers all of its population. It does not even have an umbrella institution that would extend social protection and social safety nets to the poor. However, a number of programs targeted at improving governance and responsibility of public institutions to be able to better respond to the needs of the poor, assisting them economically by creating income and employment opportunities, and improving their access to basic services are being implemented by the government, NGOs, and the private sector. Each of these sectors operates in a distinct manner as discussed in this section.

3.1. Governmental reforms

The Decentralization Plan revealed in March 2000, is an essential governance reform that targets to replace the existing highly centralized and control oriented government with a three‐tier local government system that institutes “people‐centered, rights and responsibility‐based, and service oriented” government structures. The important poverty determined facilities, such as health and education, have been transferred to district and lower local governments under this strategy. Provinces, once mainly responsible for the provision of services, assumed new responsibilities to support and supervise the performance of local governments, not as administrative members of the provincial administration, but as independent corporate bodies accountable to the electorate through political leaders.

Numerous civil service reforms have been implemented by the government to improve public sector and make it more accountable and approachable to the citizens. The issue of improving the financial management system in the country has received particular attention. Microfinance is another step that government took to provide basic support to the poor. Khushhali Bank was established in 2000 with the support of Asian Development Bank. The main aim of this bank was to benefit the poor through income generating activities, to establish small‐scale enterprises and small infrastructure ventures. Within first 2 years of its establishment, the bank had distributed an amount of Rs. 100 million to 15,000 beneficiaries, while 30% of the bank’s borrowers were women. This bank also supported social mobilization activities within poor communities and development of infrastructures such as water channels and link roads in the neglected rural areas.

Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) was founded in 1997 by the government to help poor through loans. Now, it works with the World Bank, to increase the access of poor and microenterprises to credit facilities. Policy guidelines for PPAF are provided by the board of directors, which contains three members from the government and nine members from the civil society. PPAF works as a supplier that distributes its credit through fellow organizations mainly nonprofit organizations. However, the effectiveness of PPAF in this regard has not been officially measured since 1997. So, the policymakers and researchers could not evaluate its benefits to poor.

The Zakat and Ushr Department was established in 1980, which was based on Islamic traditions in which rich people should pay a specific amount at the rate of 2.5% on their wealth to the poor. Zakat is imposed on different assets such as saving bank accounts, fixed deposits saving certificates, mutual funds, government securities on which return is paid and life insurance policies. Banks, companies, and financial institutions that operate these assets deduct Zakat. This deducted amount of Zakat transfers into Central Zakat Fund at State Bank of Pakistan. Central Zakat Fund transfers funds to Provincial Zakat Fund, which further transfers it to District Zakat Committee, based on population basis. Each District Zakat Committee further transfers funds to Local Zakat Committee at village, Mohalla (street or small towns), and other organizations such as Deeni Madaris (religious schools), government educational institutions, and vocational training institutes.

Pakistan Bait‐ul‐Mal (PBM) was set up as an autonomous corporate body in 1992. PBM was established to work for poverty alleviation through its focus on widows, orphans, disabled, needy, and poor people irrespective of sex, caste, creed, or religion. It provides educational assistance, residential accommodation and necessary facilities, free medical treatment, and promote self‐employment schemes. Federal government is the main financing source of PBM but it also receives small grants from the Zakat funds as well as from provincial and local governments.

3.2. Social security schemes

The Social Security Scheme for Employees was first introduced in March 1967. It was the first formal initiative to provide social security to the state employees. Originally, this scheme particularly covered workers in the textile industry with the objective of providing protection against possibilities of illness, maternity, work‐related injury, invalidity, and death. The coverage of the scheme was expanded in 1969, which also included workers from commercial and other industrial establishments having ten or more employees.

The Workers Welfare Fund Scheme and the Worker’s Children Education Ordinance were initiated during the early 1970s. These schemes provide education, matrimonial and housing related benefits to workers in the formal sector. The Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) was established in the year of 1976 as a federal scheme to provide old age benefits, invalidity and survivor’s pensions as well as old age grants to those eligible. It covers formal sector establishments, employing ten or more workers.

Nevertheless, none of these schemes cover workers from the agriculture region, the informal economy and those in the formal sector who are either employed temporarily or through contractors or are employed in companies with less than ten workers.

3.3. Role of NGOs and civil society

There is a close connection between NGOs, civil society, and democracy in any country. In this connection, NGOs are part of civil society that strengthens the society through activities. This process, in turn, supports the democratic development. Civil society and nonprofit sector have appeared as a significant performer on the development aspect in Pakistan, particularly in the last two to three decades. The development of NGOs and civil society as an active development entity is widely seen as a response to the failure of the state in providing successful and well‐organized basic social services, and in its overall suppression. Most of the NGOs are working with partner organization at grassroots level for poor and marginalized groups.

However, the exact extents of the nonprofit sector in Pakistan are not known because of multiple laws under which NGOs and civil society organizations can be registered with no centralized system of recordkeeping in government agencies, and also because many organizations are not registered with any agency. For example, in order to be registered, NGOs in Pakistan can opt between five different legal frameworks.

Civil society has considerably progressed in past few decades. It is flourishing in Pakistan with the recent development of technology, geopolitics, and markets. This development stimulates the construction of many civil society organizations, giving rise to exciting representation of citizens at both online and offline platforms.

There are different types of NGOs, which are associated with different types of social services. Welfare‐oriented NGOs are primarily philanthropic institutions working with vulnerable groups. Edhi Welfare Trust is the best example for this type of category. It operates a countrywide network of relief services such as ambulance, old houses, orphanage houses, women shelter houses, poor feeding houses, and its work has been recognized internationally.

Social sector, NGOs, and other civil society organizations are mainly focusing on social development limited to health or education. Agha Khan University health program is one best example, providing health and education services to poor. Numerous NGOs are employing cohesive rural and urban development programs in different parts of the country and provide a range of development services. Most of these have adopted a participatory approach and work closely with local communities.

3.4. Benazir income support program (BISP)

Benazir Income Support Program is considered an important public scheme to support poor families in all parts of the country. It was launched in 2008 as a social safety net platform aiming to increase the living standards of the poor and controlling the negative effects of slow economic growth, food crisis and inflation of the poor (predominantly women). It was started with the goal of providing money to poor families, which would help them to buy basic needs of life such as food and house expenditures. This program is very significant support of government’s development program on poverty eradication and women empowerment. Government of Pakistan has continuously increased the allocation of funds for BISP since its formation.

To allocate the poor people, BISP developed a better research design and data collection method. In the opening year, members of National Assembly (MNAs) were given the task to supervise the allocation of poor in their respective areas. However, later on, it was substituted by a Poverty Scorecard (PSC) constructed on a Proxy Means Test (PMT) applied on household census data. PMT consists of 23 variables and uses poverty characteristics such as number of assets, education level of household head and the number of dependents, to identify the poor [ 24 ]. It has identified 7.5 million families that are eligible for support fund. However, 4.6 million eligible families are already receiving support funds, which comprise of 17% of the total population. Eligible families were receiving a cash amount of 1000 Pakistan rupees per month in 2012, and the amount is expected to increase in the next years.

4. The need for improved social policy structure

The literature on poverty and poverty alleviation in Pakistan used comprehensive approaches to measure the level of poverty and poverty alleviation. Key initiatives, including government reforms mentioned earlier, reflect this comprehensive approach. The recent findings of international institutions such as the World Bank or the UN have confirmed a relative success in the Pakistan’s recent efforts to reduce poverty [ 10 , 12 , 13 ]. However, this comprehensive approach needs appreciation, but it also needs evaluation because there are gaps that still exist in the poverty literature in the country. Schemes that can be found in literature on poverty are mostly related to income‐based poverty or to economic wellbeing. Therefore, there is a gap among the overall objectives of these policies and their interventions. A comprehensive approach of poverty and poverty alleviation agendas should take into consideration some other dimensions such as gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights and inclusive social policy.

The role that the state plays in poverty alleviation is determinant for two main reasons. First, it is widely recognized that decentralization of power favors an increase of effectiveness of antipoverty efforts. Second, one‐size‐fits‐all (or a national) approach in eradicating poverty tends to increase regional inequalities because poverty is not evenly distributed across the country. Therefore, in order to have better outcomes in poverty alleviation, the government should consider a more contextual approach in designing antipoverty policies for different regions in Pakistan.

In the scenario, poverty is not evenly distributed across the country of Pakistan. At the county level of accumulation, poverty is overwhelmingly a rural problem, with the most remote rural places at the greatest disadvantage. Thus, the country should focus more on the reasons for poverty instead of personal choices of favoritism.

On the other hand, the government has also tried to implement economic policy to reduce the poverty. Nevertheless, economic policy is different from social policy in some patterns. First, social policy identifies that social and political structure in which people live. It also determines the physical and economic environment for wellbeing of people. It recognizes the significance of the organization and institutional context within which people exist. Second, it identifies the significance of the poor’s own awareness of poverty and the context of their specific identification of priorities. It is an ambiguous concept of poverty in which policy makers and rich assume that they know what poor people want and need. Other characteristics are often neglected except measuring underlining income and consumption. Whereas being poor has various criteria and it is often a mystery that divides them into categories and identifies what do poor need, instead of realizing the real need for poor.

As poverty is more prevalent in rural than urban areas, it calls for special attention from the state toward rural areas. Social policy also appears to face additional barriers to effectiveness in rural areas. A study on the effects of the changes in social policy on employment and poverty among rural and urban female‐headed households determined that rural and urban areas differ in personal characteristics of the population, local labor market environments, work barriers, or availability of services that make it more difficult for the social policy changes to move single mothers in rural areas into employment and out of poverty [ 25 ].

5. Conclusion and future strategies

Even if some progress has been made in terms of poverty alleviation, the government’s policies have had a marginal success, especially in rural areas. Rural areas are suffering from more poverty than urban areas; therefore, the government should give priority to rural areas to reduce poverty. The government must follow a long‐term economic plan by considering the fast‐changing demographic and economic trends. At this level, Pakistan should pay more attention to the quality of poverty instead of quantity. There are four comprehensive plans and supplementary policies that states might follow in reducing poverty, particularly in rural areas. In addition to these strategies, further research is required on the features of poverty.

5.1. Provision of local economic development

Different studies (for example, see Ref. [ 26 ]) had mentioned that income subsidies, tax credits, and low‐income loans to employers are incentives that policymakers might think for disadvantaged rural areas. Such tools can act as incentives for employers to expand their business, create new jobs, hire low and semiskilled workers, and offer services like onsite childcare and van shuttles. Another research argues for regional cooperation and for including poverty and underdevelopment among the explicit criteria to retarget economic development funds to places most in need [ 27 ].

This condition requires the development of local economic structure that not only benefits local communities but also helps national economic development. The biggest criticism to this model is that local governments does not have satisfactory human, financial, and logistic resources. In addition to this, administrative staff at local government lacks basic technical and managerial skills. This criticism does not provide enough strength to national or provincial government in order to transfer power to local governments. However, training and support should be provided to local governments and their staff instead of forbidding them. Because central governments at national and provincial levels are unlikely to have the capacity to assess the diversity of local conditions or local requirements and capabilities, their staff is possibly more trained and skilled, but also more remote and far away from local conditions.

Therefore, Pakistan needs a local economic development that offers opportunities for local governments, private sector, NGOs, and civil society to work together to improve the local economy. This development centers on improving effectiveness, increasing sustainable growth, and confirming the inclusive growth. The practice of local economic development ought to be assumed at different geographic measures. This development model provides better opportunities to local communities for economic development compared to national economic model.

5.2. Construct community capability and institutions

Policies to reduce poverty would have to focus on establishing the right circumstances for new industry masses to develop. The key conditions are the institutions that advocate knowledge formation, a business culture that supports entrepreneurship, institutions of higher education such as rural community colleges. As some studies (for example, see Ref. [ 28 ]) proposed in the American context, the evidence from workforce development evaluations suggests that institutional collaborations, for example, the participation of business and community colleges in workforce investment initiatives can improve employment outcomes for low‐income workers. Therefore, institutions in domestic region not only provide new facilities and jobs but also engage the local community to improve local situations.

Furthermore, if we consider the policies that inspire new concepts of economic development, then we cannot ignore the necessity of local institutions and their role in the local development. This objective can be achieved only by cheering the communicative and dialogic exchange among different stakeholders at both, national and local levels. Therefore, the relationship among local authorities, economic divisions, and citizens could redefine the reasons and effects of poverty, as well as strategies to reduce poverty. Consequently, institutions would not only provide opportunities for work, but they will start the movement to stimulate the local communities.

Social and institutional contribution may look complex because of the different levels of contributions among local actors. However, it will change the behavior and feelings of citizens to be part of local development. Their active participation definitely helps their communities to escape the poverty trap.

5.3. Improve workers’ productivity

Development of education and workforce has been seen to have important beneficial effects on earning capacity. A review of policy evaluation for workforce development in low‐income workers concluded that education and job training are the most successful ways to help local communities to improve social conditions [ 29 ].

Occupational health and safety is a major factor for improving workers’ productivity, especially in developing countries like Pakistan that are lagging far behind in health conditions. Common features that may decrease the health safety and workers’ productivity are inappropriate workplace design, weak structured jobs, mismatch between worker abilities and job demands, and poor capital‐labor ratio. Most of these factors are not directly connected to poverty; however, these are connected indirectly by means of workers’ productivity. Therefore, it has direct or indirect effects on the overall performance of country’s profile for poverty alleviation. Thus, the government should make an effort to improve worker productivity through education and training.

A recent study (for example, see Ref. [ 30 ]) develops some policy recommendations through production jobs to reduce poverty. This research reviews the literature on poverty and growth, and suggested to set up capable institutions for productive jobs that will ultimate help to reduce poverty. Market, organizations, and government are three main institutions that are essential for development. Market is spontaneous where firms provide best practices and productive jobs to the poor areas and the government’s role is to establish a correct governing agenda for business development.

5.4. Social security for workers in rural area

As in Pakistan, social security is only serving the workers of public sector and only in urban areas. Thus, government must construct a social security policy for workers in rural areas that provides safety at their retirement age, like governments employees. Provision of social security not only reduces the dependability of old people on their children but also helps to reduce poverty by providing enough funds to old people to look after themselves. BISPK is a first step toward social security for low‐income families across the country. However, it does not cover the elderly population who claims to be in retirement age. Poverty in rural areas is different from poverty in urban areas and vice versa. Similarly, causes of poverty are also different in both areas. The biggest cause of rural poverty is lack of social security for workers, because most workers depend on their daily or monthly wages which contribute to their current life that does not provide security for the future. Therefore, initiatives should have been taken to provide social security to every citizen including private and rural workers.

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  • The nine zones are barani Punjab, mixed Punjab, low intensity Punjab, cotton-wheat Punjab, rice-wheat Punjab, cotton-wheat Sindh, rice-wheat Sindh, KP (except D. I. Khan) and Balochistan (except Nasirabad) [13, 23].

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The World Bank

The World Bank In Pakistan

Pakistan has important strategic endowments and development potential. The increasing proportion of Pakistan’s youth provides the country with a potential demographic dividend and a challenge to provide adequate services and employment.

Poverty reduction has slowed amid recent shocks, as economic growth has remained volatile and slow. Pakistan made significant progress towards reducing poverty between 2001 and 2018 with the expansion of off-farm economic opportunities and increased inflow of remittances. However, rapid poverty reduction has not fully translated into improved socio-economic conditions, as human capital outcomes have remained poor, with high levels of stunting at 38 percent and learning poverty at 78 percent. Critical constraints, including persistent fiscal and current account deficits, protectionist trade policies, unproductive agriculture, a difficult business environment, a heavy state presence in the economy, and a financially unsustainable energy sector, have remained unaddressed, leading to slow and volatile growth. Progress with poverty reduction has recently slowed amid macroeconomic instability, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the catastrophic 2022 floods. The estimated lower-middle income poverty rate is 40.1 percent (US$3.65/day 2017 PPP) for the year 2023-24, virtually the same as the poverty rate in 2018, but with 7 million more Pakistanis living below the poverty line.

Pakistan experienced heavy monsoon rains in 2022 leading to catastrophic and unprecedented flooding with enormous human and economic impacts. Roughly 33 million people were impacted, and many permanently displaced. More than 13,000 kilometers of roads were destroyed, 2.2 million houses damaged, around 3.8 million hectares of crops were flooded, and an estimated 1.2 million livestock were killed. Limited access to input and output markets and temporary disruptions to supply chains subsequently drove up food prices and added to existing price pressures resulting from reduced agricultural yields and the global rise of food prices. The Government’s Post-Disaster Needs Assessment estimated that the need for rehabilitation and reconstruction is at US$16.3 billion.

Pakistan has made recent progress towards macroeconomic stabilization, but risks remain extremely high and faster growth will require substantial reform. Real GDP growth contracted by 0.2 percent y-o-y in fiscal year FY23, after growing by 6.2 percent in FY22 and 5.8 percent in FY21. Accumulated economic imbalances, including high fiscal deficits and increasing debt, depleted Pakistan’s policy buffers resulting in high vulnerability to the catastrophic floods, high world commodity prices, and tight global financing conditions. Repeated delays in implementing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program and the associated decline in external financing inflows saw foreign reserves fall to critically low levels, amid high inflation and sharp currency depreciation. Following the expiry of the incomplete EFF program, a nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) was approved by the IMF, with staff level agreement reached on its final review in March 2024. Under the SBA, exchange rate flexibility was restored, import controls were eased with some recovery in foreign exchange reserves and economic growth, and new measures were introduced to contain the FY24 fiscal deficit. Nonetheless, risks remain high. Short-term stability depends on remaining on track with the SBA, continued fiscal restraint, and new external financing inflows. Robust economic recovery over the medium term will require the steadfast implementation of much broader fiscal and economic reforms.

Economic activity is expected to remain subdued, with real GDP growth estimated at 1.8 percent in FY24, reflecting continued tight macroeconomic policy, import controls, high inflation, and continued policy uncertainty. Output growth is expected to increase to around 2.5 percent over FY25-26, remaining below potential. Poverty reduction is projected to stall with the poverty rate at around 40 percent in the medium term, owing to weak growth, limited increase in real labor incomes, and persistently high food and energy inflation. Inflation is projected to remain elevated at 26.0 percent in FY24 due to higher domestic energy prices, with little respite for poor and vulnerable households with depleted savings and lower real incomes. With high base effects and lower projected global commodity prices, inflation is expected to moderate over the medium-term. With continued import controls, the CAD is expected to remain low at 0.7 percent of GDP in FY24 and to further narrow to 0.6 percent of GDP in FY25 and FY26. The fiscal deficit is projected to widen to 8.0 percent of GDP due to higher interest payments but gradually decline as fiscal consolidation takes hold and interest payments fall over time.

The Government continues to face a challenging macroeconomic environment while maintaining progress towards macroeconomic stabilization and critical structural reforms. Significant downside risks include: i) policy uncertainty, which may undermine a coherent and timely policy response; ii) worsening external conditions, including unforeseen increases in global commodity prices and interest rates; and iii) risks associated with large domestic and external financing needs, especially in the context banking sector liquidity constraints. To manage these risks, it will be critical to adhere to sound overall economic management and buttress market sentiment, including through articulating and effectively implementing a clear strategy for economic recovery; constraining fiscal expenditures to the extent possible and carefully targeting any new expenditures; maintaining a tight monetary stance and flexible exchange rate; and remaining on-track with critical structural reforms, including those in the energy sector.

Last Updated: Apr 02, 2024

The  Country Partnership Strategy  (CPS) for Pakistan for FY2015-20 is structured to help the country tackle the most difficult—but potentially transformational—areas to reach the twin goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

The Pakistan team continues to engage with stakeholders on the next Country Partnership Framework (CPF). The CPF will draw from several analytical works, including Pakistan Systematic Country Diagnostic: Leveling the Playing Field , and the recently published Country Climate Development Report and Country Economic Memorandum .

The four results areas of the current CPS are:

Transforming the energy sector:  WBG interventions are supporting improved performance of the energy sector by supporting reforms and investments in the power sector to reduce load shedding, expand low-cost generation supply, improve transmission, improve governance and cut losses.

Supporting private sector development:  A mix of budget support, investments and analytical work supports improvements in Pakistan’s investment climate, in overall competitiveness, agricultural markets and productivity, and skills development. 

Reaching out to the underserved, neglected, and poor:  Investments support financial inclusion, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), women and youth (including through enrollment outcomes), fragile provinces/regions and poorer districts, social protection, and resilience and adaptation to the impact of climate change.

Accelerating improvements in service delivery:  At the federal and provincial levels the Bank supports increasing revenues to fund services and setting more ambitious stretch targets for areas that are not producing change fast enough (especially education and health). At a provincial level, this involves support to better service delivery in cities.

Cross cutting themes for the program include women’s economic empowerment, climate change and resilience, and regional economic connectivity.The WBG has fourth-largest portfolio of $14.7 billion in Pakistan ($10.7bn IDA, $3.8bn IBRD, $0.2mn in Trust funds and co-financings). The portfolio is supporting reforms and investments to strengthen institutions, particularly in fiscal management and human development. Partnerships are being strengthened at provincial levels, focusing on multi-sectoral initiatives in areas such as children's nutrition, education and skills, irrigated agriculture, tourism, disaster risk management, and urban development. Clean energy, and social/financial inclusion, both remain major priorities.

ENHANCING DISASTER RESILIENCE

Being one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change Pakistan is recurrently affected by catastrophes, including the unprecedented 2022 floods which affected an estimated 33 million people and resulted in US$14.9 billion in damages and US$15.2 billion in economic losses . Pakistan’s economy continues to suffer chronic strain from prevailing and likely future threats of hazards. Since the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, which led to nearly 73,000 deaths and caused damages to over 570,000 houses, the Bank has been supporting the Government of Pakistan in shifting to an anticipatory risk management approach. Initially, the Bank provided technical assistance to the government to highlight physical and fiscal risks from hazards, including risk assessments of federal and provincial capitals. In parallel, the Bank also used grant resources to build the capacity of Provincial Disaster Management Authority of Balochistan.

Following the floods of 2014, at the request of Government of Pakistan, the World Bank prepared the US$125 million IDA-funded Disaster and Climate Resilience Improvement Project (DCRIP) to support the restoration of flood protection infrastructure and strengthen government capacity to manage disasters and climate variability in Punjab. The project was successfully concluded in November 2021,achieving its intended development objectives and surpassing the targets for several key results indicators. DCRIP directly benefitted more than 8 million people, half of which are women. The project also repurposed US$7 million to support the Government of Punjab in the pandemic emergency response through procurement of personal protection and healthcare equipment.

In 2016, the Bank also prepared and delivered the US$100 million IDA-funded  Sindh Resilience Project  (SRP) to mitigate flood and drought risks in selected areas, and strengthen Government of Sindh's capacity to manage natural disasters. About 5.75 million people across the province have benefitted from project interventions till date. The drought mitigation component of the project, comprising construction of small groundwater recharge dams, has already started generating strong development impacts for the target communities. In 2021, the Bank approved an additional financing of US$200 million to scale up the small groundwater recharge dams component and set up an emergency rescue service for Sindh.

The Bank has also prepared and delivered the US$188 million IDA-funded Pakistan Hydromet and Climate Services Project which aims to strengthen Pakistan’s public-sector delivery of reliable and timely hydro-meteorological services and enhance community resilience to shocks. The Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) was activated under this project to disburse US$150 million in response to the 2022 floods to provide cash assistance to 1.3 million flood affected families.

Furthermore, as part of comprehensive emergency response and rehabilitation support for 2022 floods, the Bank delivered two emergency projects for the province of Sindh, which was disproportionately affected by the catastrophe. The US$500 million IDA-funded Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project aims to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and provide short-term livelihood opportunities through cash-for-work in selected areas of Sindh affected by the 2022 floods. The project will also strengthen the capacity of the Government of Sindh to respond to the impacts of climate change and natural hazards through expansion of the Sindh Emergency Rescue Service (Rescue 1122) and enhancing the preparedness of relevant line departments. The Project is expected to benefit 2 million people through rehabilitated infrastructure while short term livelihood support will be provided to 100,000 households.

Similarly, the IDA-funded US$500 million Sindh Flood Emergency Housing Reconstruction Project aims to deliver beneficiary-driven, multi-hazard resilient reconstruction of core housing units damaged or destroyed in the floods of 2022 in selected districts of Sindh. The Project will support the provision of an estimated 350,000 housing subsidy cash grants and strengthen the capacity of the Government of Sindh by providing technical assistance for the overall housing reconstruction program.

The flood emergency response projects have made satisfactory progress till date. US$ 160 million has been utilized for infrastructure rehabilitation, benefitting more than 3 million people, and about US$100 million has been committed for tranche-based cash grants for housing support to 160,000 beneficiaries.  Efforts are ongoing to ensure the inclusion of eligible beneficiaries and putting emphasis on infrastructure resilience in design standards, which represent important steps towards enhancing overall resilience and building back better.

The Bank has also launched the Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Pakistan. The Pakistan CCDR provides analyses and policy recommendations on harmonizing efforts to achieve further economic growth and lower poverty rates, on the one hand, with the pursuit of a climate-resilient, low-carbon, and equitable development path, on the other. In light of the devastating 2022 heatwaves and floods and the country’s vulnerability profile, the CCDR strongly emphasizes the need to build long-term resilience. Further, it explores pathways for Pakistan to achieve deep decarbonization by 2050, and eventually reach net-zero emissions by 2070 without undermining its development ambitions.

Pakistan has made progress in mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in national policies and strategies, however, there is a slow progress in improving health outcomes. According to the maternal mortality survey in 2019 [1], the country’s maternal mortality ratio  was 186 deaths per 100,000 live births down from 276/100,000 live births in 2006-07. Large gaps exist across provinces with Sindh and Balochistan having twice the number of maternal deaths as compared to the national average. The country also has one of the highest infant and under-5 mortalities in the region (62 and 74 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively). Twenty-two percent of the children born have low birth weight with variations across provinces.

On average, access to quality reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health with nutrition services in Pakistan is inadequate, with regional disparities. About 49 percent [2] of pregnant women do not receive the recommended four or more anti-natal care (ANC) visits essential for a safe and healthy pregnancy outcome. With 33.8 percent of births outside of health facilities, the risk of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity is high. 42 percent of women of reproductive age in Pakistan have anemia due to poor nutrition. At 3.6 births per woman [3], Pakistan’s fertility rate is still relatively high, and except for Punjab, adolescent fertility has increased, and modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) has been low in the last decade at 25 percent. High fertility rate and teenage pregnancies contribute to poor maternal and child health outcomes which pose risks of death and illness.  Poor health affects all facets of women’s lives including delayed development milestones, education, learning skills and gainfully participating in the labor force.

Stunting rates for children under age 5 have dropped from 45% to 40.2% from 2013 to 2018 [4]. However, it is still high and large disparities exist among provinces. This prevalence varies from 36.4% in Punjab to 46.6% in Balochistan. The average annual rate of reduction since the last 2018 National Nutrition Survey has been estimated at only 0.5 percent, which is frighteningly slow to reach the national targets. Although the situation is worse in rural and poor households, more than 20 percent of under-5 children in the wealthiest income quintile are also stunted, meaning poverty is not the only driver of stunting.

Immunization coverage for children aged 12-23 months, increased considerably over the past 8-9 years from 54% in 2013 to 77% in 2022. In Punjab 89.5% of children are fully immunized while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan 60.5%, 68%, and 37.9% are respectively fully vaccinated [5].

The World Bank has been supporting the health sector in Pakistan through national and provincial projects. The “National Health Support Program”, approved in Fiscal Year 2023, supports the strengthening of equitable delivery and quality of essential health services at the primary level and the “Sindh Integrated Health and Population Project”, approved in Fiscal Year 2023, supports to improve quality health services in selected areas and restore and rehabilitate healthcare services impacted by floods. The “Punjab Family Planning Program” is aimed to improve modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) while simultaneously tackling the knowledge and cultural barriers that hinder access to family planning services in the province. Provincial “Human Capital Investment projects” are being implemented in Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the aim to improve utilization of quality health targeted and social services to the poor and vulnerable population.

The World Bank also invests in analytical work through “Programmatic Advisory Services and Analytics (PASA)”, aiming to generate evidence for reforms and provide technical support to the federal and provincial governments in implementing Universal Health Coverage in Pakistan. Additionally, the Bank is working with the Government of Pakistan, through analytics to build capacity of the country stakeholders of the human and animal sectors on health emergency preparedness and response from a one-health perspective.  The Bank is also developing thorough and comprehensive analyses on nutrition that will contribute to the development of a nation-wide program to accelerate stunting reduction in under-five children in pursuit of accumulating human capital in Pakistan.

Sources: [1] Pakistan Maternal Mortality Survey 2019; [2] Universal Health Coverage Index 2023; [3] Demographic and Health Survey 2018; [4] National Nutrition Survey 2018; [5] Third-Party Verification Immunization Coverage Survey Round Two 2022.

Actions to Strengthen Performance for Inclusive and Response Education (ASPIRE) is a 5-year US$200 million program that became effective in August 2020. The program is aimed at enhanced targeting of COVID-19 education response, generating improved learning opportunities for out-of-school children (OOSC) and at-risk students, and enabling stronger federal-provincial coordination and management. To date, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) and the provincial education departments have achieved four Disbursement-Linked Results (DLR): adoption of National School Health and Safety Protocols, approval of National Education Response and Resilience Plan, provision of distance learning kits to 50,000 students across the country, and provision of hygiene and cleaning kits to 20,000 public schools nationwide. The activities planned in in FY23 mostly focused on construction and rehabilitation, communication campaigns, teachers training, multi-modal programs, and specific intervention related to Out of School Children (OOSC). The ASPIRE program has also been successful at leveraging the Inter-Provincial Education Ministerial Conference (IPEMC) and the Technical Steering Committee (TSC) platforms for improved coordination between the Federal and Provincial Education Departments.

Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Pakistan project (PREP) , initiated in April 2020, was closed in June 2023. Different donor organizations extended their support in the form of grants and loans to overcome the pandemic situation all over the world, especially to support the education sector. PREP was a USD187 million project of which USD17 million is the education component. The education component introduced distance-learning activities and the development and implementation of plans to ensure the continuity of learning including remote learning options, at all levels of education. These included TV /radio broadcasts, virtual networks of teachers, and other means of distance delivery of academic content at primary, secondary and higher secondary levels. The key activities that are being procured under PREP included: i) Teleschool initiative through Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), ii) Content procurement for Teleschool, iii) Strengthening of E-Taleem portal including Virtual Teacher Training (VTT) and Learning Management System (LMS) modules, iv) Development of VTT Training Modules/Courses v) Smart classrooms vi) Procurement and distribution of hand-held devices vii) Communication campaign viii) School on wheels, and ix) the monitoring and evaluation activities.

Data and Research in Education (DARE) is a US$10 million Bank Executed Trust Fund (BETF) provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office alongside the ASPIRE program. The project supports Pakistan education sector’s response and recovery by providing technical assistance to the Federal Government, in order to strengthen the education data infrastructure and coordination mechanisms between the federal and provincial governments, enhance evidence-based decision making and improve targeting of programs to reduce inequality and gender-gap. The main components under DARE include strengthening the provincial-Federal education data management processes, enhancing sector coordination on student learning outcomes and improvement of sector monitoring, evaluation and decision making by supporting policy research and impact evaluations.

COVID 19 Response, Recovery, and Resilience in Education Project (RRREP)  - a Global Partnership for Education funded grant of US$19.85 million was successfully closed in November 2022. The project ensured learning continuity through a) broadcasting the digital content on National TV and Radio which reached around 2.7 million children across 58 lagging districts in Pakistan; b) contributed to the evolving EdTech ecosystem at the Federal level by enhancing the Ministry’s digital content library (6000 lessons for grades K-12) and mapping them to the National and Provincial Student Learning Outcomes; and c)  providing adequate infrastructure for the delivery of digital content. Moreover, to ensure safe school reopening post COVID-19, around 1.8 million children in over 12,000 primary schools received sanitizing and hygiene kits, as well as learning materials to lower barriers for re-enrollment and attendance. The Bank has also supported the government’s communication campaign on safe school practices as well as re-enrolment campaigns to encourage families to send their children back to schools once schools re-opened. The project also supported National strategic policy dialogue on strategies to mainstream Out of School Children (OOSC).

Under the 5-year Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) the World Bank supports research excellence in strategic sectors of the economy, improved teaching and learning and strengthened governance in the higher education sector. The project has been successful in bringing some key reforms in the sector, including: introduction of an Undergraduate Education Policy which established the criteria for Associate Degree and transition of all Bachelor’s Degree programs from two-years to four-years; research capacity development by providing competitive research, innovation, and commercialization grants, such as the Rapid Research Grants, for research on critical COVID-19 related topics and Innovative Seed Fund to support startups and entrepreneurs; expansion of digital connectivity and remote learning systems to ensure continuity of education during COVID-19 and capacity building trainings of faculty, especially females under the newly established National Academy for Higher Education.

The World Bank supported Punjab with an reform program through the  Punjab Education Sector Project-III program (US$300 million), which closed  in June 2022. The Bank also supports interventions in the education sector in Punjab through the Human Capital Investment project (US$200 million, with US$30 million supporting strengthening and scale-up of early childhood education in 11 districts in South Punjab). The project supports the development of a 2-year early childhood education (ECE) curriculum and strengthening of ECE services in Punjab. Currently a minimum of 11,000 ECE classrooms meet new quality standards, which include the presence of a trained teacher and caregiver as well as a kit with instructional material. In addition, content for teaching and learning materials is being updated to ensure alignment with evolving curricula and standards.

The 5 year Sindh Early Learning Enhancement through Classroom Transformation (SELECT) project of $155 million, financed in part by the Global Partnership for Education grant ($55 million) supports the Sindh Education Sector Plan & Roadmap (SESPR) 2019–2024, focusing on 12 of 29 districts in Sindh, with the lowest performance on educational outcomes. Prioritized areas under SELECT include foundational literacy; teaching quality; classroom and provincial assessments improving access to elementary schools and enhancing the school learning environment, including in 250 flood-affected schools; proactive dropout mitigation (especially for girls) and transition from primary to secondary schooling through the development of a student attendance monitoring and redress system; and improved school and district-level governance which contribute to the achievement of its targets.

Balochistan

The Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project (BHCIP), which became effective in 2021, is implemented together with the health sector. The education component (US$17.75 million) focuses on the improved utilization of quality education services in selected refugee hosting districts. BHCIP funds the rehabilitation of schools and upgrading of primary schools to middle and high schools, merit-based hiring of additional teachers and strengthening of the education sector stewardship. To date, BHCIP has initiated the procurement of supplies for schools, including basic furniture, ECE classroom materials, science, and IT laboratory equipment. The project also aims to improve student assessment and teacher training across the province by supporting the Balochistan Assessment and Examination Commission and Provincial Institute of Teacher Education. Use of data for decision making and schools’ capacity to contribute to generating reliable data is another important element of the project that strengthens governance at school and district levels.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

In March 2021, the Government of Pakistan approved the US$200 million Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Capital Investment Project (KPHCIP) – a five-year project that aims to improve the availability, utilization, and quality of primary healthcare services and elementary education services in 4 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The districts were selected because they have some of the highest refugee populations in the province. This financing includes a grant of USD $62.5 million from the IDA18 regional sub-window for refugees and host communities (IDA-18 RSW). The education component (US$115 million) of the project will focus on improving the availability, utilization, and quality of education services in selected districts for all children, especially refugees and girls. Approximately US$19M from the education component are being reallocated for flood rehabilitation and reconstruction in the original districts as well as 9 additional flood-affected refugee-hosting districts. 

OPERATING IN CONFLICT AREAS

In the aftermath of the militancy crisis in Pakistan, the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and Balochistan was established in August 2010. The aim was to support the reconstruction, rehabilitation, reforms, and other interventions needed to build peace and create the conditions for sustainable development in the affected regions. After more than a decade of implementation, the MDTF officially closed on December 31, 2023.

In two rounds, the MDTF supported a range of projects to help build state-citizen trust in KP, FATA, and Balochistan. Round I of MDTF projects was implemented from August 2010 to March 2017 and focused on helping the provinces come out of the militancy crisis and take strides towards conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Subsequently, Round II was implemented from April 2017 to September 2023, achieving results towards reconciliation, peacebuilding and enhancing state- citizen trust by focusing on three pillars: (i) Growth and Jobs Creation; (ii) Improved Service Delivery; and (iii) Policy Reforms and Improved Governance.

The MDTF has aimed to build peace and create the conditions for sustainable development, but it has also helped address an array of immediate emergencies in Pakistan. For example, the MDTF has responded to unforeseen and immediate needs by supporting livelihood improvement measures in Balochistan in the aftermath of the 2022 floods. Furthermore, the fund was among the first to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan, providing much-needed resources.

The MDTF was closed on December 31, 2023, after the activities were completed and the targeted results were achieved. Of the funds of around USD 283 million, which included USD 11 million in investment income, USD 279 million (98 percent) was used for results, resulting in savings of around USD 3.6 million.

The MDTF achieved noteworthy results under its three results areas. The World Bank will continue to engage with the Governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan through several projects that build on the results achieved under the MDTF.

families qualified for Benazir Income Support Program benefits through the Poverty Score Card survey

Pakistan: Commitments by Fiscal Year (in millions of dollars)*

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Poverty in Pakistan, Essay Example

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Pakistan is not the only country that is faced with the threat of extremism but it often gets more attention due to its geographical location. The extremism has also been on the rise due to wars in which Pakistan has been a forced participant such as Russian invasion of Afghanistan as well as the on-going U.S. war on terrorism in Afghanistan. But another major culprit behind the rise of extremism has been high poverty rate.

There are several factors that contribute towards high poverty rates in Pakistan. One of the factors is limited participation of women in the workforce due to gender stereotypes, family responsibilities, and cultural restrictions on women mobility. It is estimated that women participation rate in the labor force is merely 13.7 percent as compared to men’s 70.4 percent (Ahmad). Lack of women participation reduces the family income and it is particularly hard on women who bear most of the responsibility of raising their children. Another factor is poor healthcare system. One research report found that as much as 65 percent of the poor people in Pakistan suffer from ill health. Poor health means lower labor productivity and, thus, lower average income for the poor population. The third factor is poor market structures which often lead to exploitation of poor workers. It is estimated that 14 percent of poor peasants work at a wage that is less than half the market wage rate (Hussain). When poverty is widespread, it makes it easier for fundamentalist religious elements to recruit individuals who have lost hope and have grievances against the state.

Thus, one of the most effective tools against extremism is to take concrete steps to reduce poverty rate in Pakistan. This could be done in a number of way such as making education more accessible and affordable to poor people, tackling corruption in the public sector, improving markets’ functioning, and controlling inflation.

Ahmad, Shakeel. Causes of poverty in Pakistan. 29 September 2012 <http://www.pakistanherald.com/Article.aspx?chk=1&art_id=1545>.

Hussain, Akmal. The question of poverty reduction in Pakistan. February 2007. 29 September 2012 <http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2007/february/pakistan.htm>.

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Poverty in Pakistan Essay

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According jean guenon, undp (united nations development program) report.

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  • Promote industrialization
  • Replacement of the traditional agricultural equipment with new scientific equipments in order to increase the yield.
  • Establishment of justice and equality
  • Equal distribution of resources
  • Merit should be the upshot strategy in all walks of life
  • Elimination of discriminatory policies
  • Controlling of inflation and other economic indicators and regulators.
  • Developing investment friendly environment
  • Giving more feasibilities and concessions to the foreign investors
  • Dumping extremism and feudalism
  • Establishing more and more technical institute in order to get people well skilled.
  • Prevalence of education
  • Provision of job opportunities
  • Division of agricultural lands among tenants.
“Poverty is widespread in Pakistan and is particularly predominant in rural areas. Nearly two thirds of the population, and 80 per cent of the country’s poor people, live in rural parts of the country”

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Home / Essay Samples / Social Issues / Begging / Poverty In Pakistan: Contributing Factors And Possible Solutions

Poverty In Pakistan: Contributing Factors And Possible Solutions

  • Category: Social Issues , World
  • Topic: Begging , Inequality , Pakistan

Pages: 4 (1684 words)

Views: 1660

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Types of Poverty

Absolute poverty: “it refers to the state of severe deprivation of basic human needs. ”, relative poverty: “it is defined contextually as economic inequality in location or society in which people live”., voluntary poverty., causes of poverty in pakistan, reduction strategies in pakistan, pakistan government adopt that strategies or companies.

  • Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).
  • Emergency Relief Packages
  • Health insurance.
  • Peoples Work Program (PWP)
  • Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM).
  • Employees Old Age Benefits institution (EOBI).

Solutions to Poverty in Pakistan

  • The full equality between men and women in public as well as private areas of life, a worldwide minimum wage of $20 per day and the end of child labor under the age of 16 with the creation of a subsidy for scholarship.
  • The guarantee of shelter, healthcare, education, food and drinking water as basic human rights that must be provided free to all.
  • A total redistribution of idle lands to landless farmers and the imposition of a 50% cap on arable land devoted to products for export per country, with the creation of a worldwide subsidy for organic agriculture.
  • Government should create better policies to tackle this problem and learn from our past. There should be policies for providing jobs to unemployed people.
  • Promote industrializations
  • Replacement of the traditional agriculture
  • Equipment with new specific equipment in order to increase the yields.
  • Establishment of justices and equality
  • Equal distribution of resources
  • Elimination of discrimination policies
  • Social Protection

Social Assistance Programs for the poor

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