Tag Archive for: Poverty In Pakistan

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Six Things to Know About Poverty in Pakistan

Poverty in Pakistan
Poverty is a global affliction affecting numerous countries in the developing world. Pakistan, a country in South Asia, is home to millions of people who live in extreme poverty. Poverty in Pakistan is on track to decrease, but there is still work to be done.

With approximately 185 million citizens, Pakistan ranks 147th out of 188 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI). Reports on poverty in Pakistan show that as much as 40% of the population–roughly the size of the population of Florida, California and New York combined–live beneath the poverty line.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report by the Pakistan Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform in June 2016 shows that 39% of Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty. The MPI methodology, developed by UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative in 2010, uses a broader concept of poverty by reflecting people’s deprivations related to health, education and standard of living in addition to income and wealth.

 

1.  Regional and Provincial Disparities in Poverty in Pakistan

The report states that national poverty rates in Pakistan fell from 55% to 39% from 2004 to 2015. This is a strong decline; however, development across different regions of the country is uneven. Poverty in urban areas is at 9.3% as compared to 54.6% in rural areas. Similarly, great disparities exist across provinces, with the highest rates of poverty in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. The MPI report states that “over two-thirds of people in FATA (73%) and Balochistan (71%) live in multidimensional poverty. Poverty in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stands at 49%, Gilgit-Baltistan and Sindh at 43%, Punjab at 31% and Azad Jammu and Kashmir at 25%.”

Some districts such as Qilla Abdullah, Harnai and Barkhan in Balochistan have more than 90% poverty compared to Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, in which less than 10% of residents live in multidimensional poverty. The report also found that the decrease in multidimensional poverty in Balochistan was the slowest while poverty levels had actually increased there and in Sindh province in the past decade.

 

2. Corruption in Pakistan

Despite being the second-largest economy in South Asia, development is limited by entrenched poverty in Pakistan, social inequality, lack of access to social services and extreme corruption. The 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International ranks Pakistan 116th globally. Corruption in Pakistan is not a new phenomenon. Recent Panama leaks involving the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s three children are just one example: they owned offshore companies and assets not shown on his family’s wealth statement. This and other cases of corruption by political and military elites have made it impossible to alleviate widespread poverty.

 

3. Population Boom

Burgeoning population growth is another major issue that weighs down Pakistan’s socio-economic development. According to some reports, in the past 10 to15 years, the population of Pakistan has grown by more than 40 million, making it the sixth most populous country in the world. Another report found that Pakistan’s population increases by 1.8% per year. By that rate, it is feared that, if the nightmarish growth goes unchecked, the country’s population will be 245 million by 2030.

 

4. Development and Conflict

Pakistan is caught between the United States’ War on Terrorism in Afghanistan and an increasingly unstable relationship with India. Tackling poverty is important because economic instability and a lack of development can only lead to conflict and violence, domestically and regionally. In the past two decades, Pakistan has seen increasing violence at the hands of militant jihadists and Baloch insurgents. Rather than bettering the lives of common people by introducing broad-based socio-economic reforms, the Pakistani state uses excessive military force to “resolve” issues in the country’s northern and southwestern regions. Unending conflicts are another reason why it is difficult for development to take place.

 

5. Disproportionate Defense Spending

Most importantly, instead of allocating sufficient funds to address both acute and long-standing poverty, the country spends the largest amount of national expenditures on defense. A May 2017 report showed that “Pakistan’s defense expenditure in the next financial year (2017-18) will be around seven percent higher than it was in the outgoing year to Rs920.2 billion (USD$8.65 billion).” It was Rs841 billion (USD$7.9 billion) for the year 2016-2017. In contrast, Pakistan spends only 2.6% of its GDP on education, which is the lowest in South Asia.

 

6. Consequences of Poverty in Pakistan

Grinding poverty and lack of development fuel child labor, illiteracy, religious extremism and endless conflicts on massive scales. The Gross National Income per capita is only $5,031. Life expectancy in Pakistanis at 66.4 years and the expected years of schooling is miserably low at 8.1 years. These figures are among the lowest in the world.

The good news is that poverty in Pakistan decreased by 15 percent in the past decade, but, given the grim lows overall, this figure is less than encouraging. In order to alleviate poverty, policymakers need to focus on achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Although it is a big challenge for an underdeveloped country like Pakistan, meeting the SDGs is important since they provide the best possible integrated way for inclusive growth, peace and development.

Finally, policymakers should also focus on addressing the poverty of opportunity. The poverty of income is a result of the poverty of opportunity. Poverty in Pakistan is a multidimensional problem requiring multidimensional solutions.

– Aslam Kakar

Photo: Google

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Tackling Energy Poverty in Rural Pakistan

energy_poverty
Each day, more of the world’s population gains access to electricity. Economic development, urbanization and aid programs have all helped increase global energy access. But 1.3 billion people still have no access to electricity, meaning that 18 percent of the world’s population is living in “energy poverty.” 97% of those living without electricity are located in either Sub-Saharan Africa or developing areas of Asia.

Electricity is vital for maintaining a clean water supply, sanitation systems and effective healthcare. It is also necessary for reliable lighting and heating, mechanical power, transportation and communication. It is crucial to a country’s economic development and its peoples’ well-being.

In Pakistan, only 67% of the population has access to electricity. In rural areas, this percentage dips even lower. However, the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) is working to bring electricity to those living in rural Pakistan.

SRSP, a nonprofit founded in 1989, operates in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA. The organization aims to empower communities, support economic and livelihood development, and provide humanitarian aid when necessary. Their overall goals are to reduce poverty levels and improve the quality of life in these regions. They have assisted in many areas, from providing relief after natural disasters to improving drinking water quality to building roads.

SRSP is making great strides in helping those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa access electricity. They have been primarily working in the remote villages of the Hindu Kush mountains. Life in these villages is difficult — the area is prone to earthquakes and flooding and has been the site of many violent conflicts. However, the very mountains that isolate these villages have provided a source of energy for the people.

SRSP uses micro-hydro schemes powered by the glacier meltwater rivers that flow down the mountains to provide a sustainable source of energy. Micro-hydro schemes are able to provide electricity to whole communities while making very little impact on the environment. Since 2004, SRSP has built 189 micro-hydro schemes, bringing electricity to approximately 365,000 people. Over the next two years, the organization aims to reach 300,000 more people.

Having electricity has dramatically improved the quality of life for these villagers. Businesses can expand, communication is much easier, and students are able to study after dark and attain a better education. SRSP earned the 2015 Ashden International Award for Increasing Energy Access for their work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In today’s world, electricity is necessary for any nation to develop, and SRSP’s sustainable practices can help Pakistan to do so without harming the environment. Other regions in need of energy access, such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, could benefit from such systems. The model of using a region’s natural resources, from water to sunlight to wind, to provide power could work in other “energy poor” areas of the world. The methods used by SRSP prove that sustainable sources of energy can be hugely beneficial for expanding energy access while preserving a region’s natural ecosystems.

– Jane Harkness

Sources: Ashden, The Express Tribune, The Guardian, International Energy Agency, International Energy Agency 2, Sarhad Rural Support Programme, Sarhad Rural Support Programme 2
Photo: Sarhad Rural Support Programme

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Poverty in Lahore, Pakistan

Poverty-in-Lahore-Pakistan
Pakistan is among the nations in the developing world that has made substantial progress in poverty reduction. The amount of people living in extreme poverty has gone down considerably over the years and continues to decrease today. What drives poverty reduction in Pakistan, especially in large areas such as Lahore, is income growth. Through a combination of support programs and reforms, as well as income equality, Pakistan was able to translate income growth to poverty reduction.

According to the World Bank Group, there are over 50 million less people living in poverty in present day Pakistan than there were in 1991. Additionally, the percent of people living on less than a dollar and a quarter a day fell from 66.5 percent to 12.7 percent. However, although extreme poverty in the region has been reduced, there is still over half of the population living under two dollars a day. Despite progress made in Pakistan, there still remains a high number of Pakistanis in poverty and many more who are vulnerable to falling back into poverty, especially in large cities such as Lahore.

Lahore, a large region in Pakistan, is considered to be one of the most populated urban areas in the world and is one of the largest cities in the Islamic world. According to Index Mundi, as of January 2015, Lahore has an estimated 10 million people living in the region. The size of the region poses a bilateral problem; on the one hand, Lahore’s population and size contributes to its wealth and prosperity, while on the other hand, with a large city comes overpopulation and underdevelopment. Large cities such as Lahore often have another side to their urban development: the underdevelopment of parts of the region called the slums. Similar to the slums in various parts of India, Indonesia and Kenya, slums in Lahore are densely populated with areas lacking in basic necessities such as clean water, electricity, security and health care.

In Lahore, 30 percent of the region is considered to fall into the category of slums; however, the percentage does not take into account the amount of unregistered slum neighborhoods in the city. These slums are formed by low income communities that do not have the means to live in proper housing in the city, and they are a byproduct of over population, economic, political and social inequalities as well government intervention. Slums in Lahore are also a consequence of people moving from rural areas around Pakistan to the city in hopes of attaining a better life. The reality, however, reveals that many who move into the city have a difficult time securing employment, and eventually settle in the slum communities as a result. Health care, education, and basics such as sanitation and electricity, are extremely limited in the slums of Lahore and further contribute to low living conditions.

A solution that can bring poverty rates down in Lahore is to have more government involvement through political laws and reforms that pay special attention to these areas. More government interference and aid to counteract inequalities can be the beginning of reducing poverty in the slums of Lahore.

– Nada Sewidan

Sources: The World Bank, TribuneAcademia.edu
Photo: Pakistan Defence