(source : ANI) ( Photo Credit : ani)
A new World Bank report sounds the alarm on Pakistan’s rising poverty levels, calling for urgent, inclusive reforms to protect the country’s most at-risk groups. The findings highlight how overlapping crises have reversed years of progress, leaving millions struggling.
Titled “Reclaiming Momentum Towards Prosperity: Pakistan Poverty, Equity and Resilience Assessment,” this is the first major deep dive into poverty and welfare in Pakistan in over 20 years. It draws on more than 25 years of household survey data, maps, projections, and government records to paint a clear picture.
Pakistan’s national poverty rate climbed by 7 percentage points over the past three years, hitting 25.3% in 2024-25. The trend marks a sharp turnaround from earlier gains: poverty dropped steadily from 64.3% in 2001-02 to a low of 21.9% in 2018-19. But since 2020, it’s been on the upswing again.
Experts at the World Bank point to a perfect storm of challenges as the culprits. The COVID-19 pandemic hammered the economy, runaway inflation squeezed household budgets, devastating floods destroyed livelihoods, and ongoing macroeconomic woes added more pressure. On top of that, the growth model that fueled past poverty reductions—centered on rising consumer spending—has run out of steam.
The report credits much of the earlier success to families shifting from farm work to better-paying service jobs, boosting non-agricultural incomes. Yet Pakistan’s shift toward a more modern economy has been sluggish and uneven, stifling new job opportunities, business diversity, and overall productivity.
Informal work dominates, making up over 85% of all jobs, which often means low pay and no safety net. Women and young people face even steeper barriers, with many sidelined from the workforce entirely.
Beyond economics, the report exposes deep social cracks. About 40% of Pakistani children suffer from stunting due to malnutrition. A quarter of kids at primary school age aren’t even enrolled, and three-quarters of those in class struggle to read basic sentences. Access to essentials falls short too: By 2018, only half of households had reliable safe drinking water, and nearly one-third lacked proper sanitation.
Regional gaps widen the problem further. Rural poverty rates are more than double those in cities, and some districts that lagged behind decades ago remain stuck in the same rut today.
This World Bank poverty assessment urges Pakistan to tackle these issues head-on with reforms that build resilience and equity, ensuring no one gets left behind in the push for shared prosperity.
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