This document summarizes poverty levels and factors in Pakistan. It finds that 21.04% of Pakistanis live below the $1.25/day poverty line, and 60.19% live below the $2/day line. Balochistan has the highest poverty rate at 52%, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 32%, Sindh at 33%, and Punjab at 19%. Major factors driving poverty include low social sector investment, income inequality, rural/urban disparities, poor data, low literacy, population growth, and corruption. Achieving goals to reduce poverty by 2030 will require pro-poor policies, social protection programs, job creation, and public-private partnerships.

1. ‫رپ‬‫وموضاعت‬‫فلتخم‬
‫روزہ‬‫تفہ‬
Weekly
‫مضمون‬‫ایک‬‫روزہ‬‫ہفت‬
‫امشرہ‬#58
‫ونجری‬2016
‫ل‬ّ‫و‬‫اال‬ُ‫عیب‬‫ر‬1437‫ھ‬
‫دمری‬:
‫گیب‬‫ادمح‬‫اردش‬
‫اشمورت‬‫سلجم‬:
●‫اخن‬‫رخم‬●‫اخن‬‫اہلل‬‫رتعف‬●‫آاتفب‬‫رادش‬‫ڈارٹک‬
‫ہمظتنم‬‫سلجم‬:
●‫اقمس‬‫انزش‬●‫دصیقی‬‫بیط‬
‫اوتار‬ ‫ریپ‬ ‫لگنم‬ ‫دبھ‬ ‫رعمجات‬ ‫ہعمج‬ ‫ہتفہ‬
31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
●‫ارقلان‬‫مہف‬
●‫ابدحلثی‬‫ذتریک‬
●‫ریست‬
●‫اترخی‬
●‫میلعت‬
●‫تیصخش‬‫ریمعت‬
●‫رغجاہیف‬
●‫تحص‬
●‫اپاتسکن‬‫اطمہعل‬
●‫الخایقت‬‫ا‬
●‫بتک‬ ِ‫اعترف‬
●‫اوالد‬‫رتتیب‬
●‫اابعلد‬‫وقحق‬
●‫وبنی‬ِ‫بط‬‫ﷺ‬
●‫اعمایشت‬
●‫ایسفنت‬
●‫امسایجت‬
Dr. Rashid Aftab, Director, RIPP
…..…PovertyCanLeadto Kufr
Al-Hadith…….
Poverty is a multi-faced phenomenon and a social epidemic which hampers
growth in all respect. The International day for the eradication of poverty was
observed on 17th October with the aim to promote pro-poor strategies to
support the most vulnerable segments of the societies particularly in
developing countries.
There are many definition and concepts of poverty within the framework of;
a) whether individual/households have minimum resources to meet
their basic needs,
b) inequality in the distribution of income,
c) vulnerability and threshold of social safety net.
The measurement of poverty has three constituents;
a) the welfare measure to be defined in accordance with the relevant
society,
b) identification of a poverty line and its threshold that separates the
poor from the non-poor and
c) developing poverty indicator for mapping the segment of the
population being effected by poverty.
According to United Nations poverty threshold is defined as person taking less
than 2,350 Calories per day or earning less than $1.25 per day.

2. In Pakistan perspective, World Bank’s Poverty Head Count Analysis for 2014 reveals that, if income per adult
in Pakistan is taken as $1.25 per day, then 21.04pc of the population lives below the poverty line and if the
poverty line is raised to $2 per day in line with international standards for middle income countries, then
60.19pc of the population falls below the poverty line.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI) AND POVERTY
The situation further intensified when HDI (health, education and standard of living) is considered which
ranked the country at 146th position out of 187 and placed in to the list of bottom countries on the globe.
Province wise Poverty in Pakistan
Pakistan’s poverty can be considered in perspective of five dimensions –
education, health, water supply and sanitation, household assets/amenities and
satisfaction to service delivery through HDI mapping. An inter-provincial
assessment of four provinces was conducted by SDPI in 2013, it has been
reported that the highest incidence of poverty prevails in Baluchistan with 52
per cent of the households living under the poverty line, followed by 32 per
cent, 33 per cent and 19 per cent respectively in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (K-P-
K), Sindh and Punjab.
Balochistan (52%): high in the central and southwest part of the province with the exception of Panjgur and
Gawadar districts and comparatively low North except Muskhel.
K-P-K (32%): extremely high in the northern mountainous regions, very high in the southern regions,
average in the central parts while the districts adjacent to Islamabad show low levels of poverty.
Sindh(33%): Southeast part of Sindh is the poorest region, while central Sindh is relatively less poor and
southwest Sindh the least poor region of the province. Out of 27 districts, the inhabitants of 18 districts are facing
severe poverty conditions like; Tharparkar(47%), Badin (42%), Tando Muhammad Khan (41%), Thatta (40%),
Nawabshah (39%) Larkana (38%) Jacobabad (36%), in Hyderabad and Sukkar(25%) under poverty line.

3. FOUNDATIONS OF POVERTY IN PAKISTAN:
The major factors for poverty in Pakistan are; Low investments in social sector (health, education, water &
sanitation, livelihood), Income inequality, Disparity within provinces, Poor data which contribute to makes pro-
poor policies, Non-income measures of poverty – including education and gender parity, Low Foreign Direct
investment and its transparent utilization, massive corruption, un-even distribution of agriculture land, trade
imbalance, low literacy rate and poor skills, growing population, ineffective management of natural resources
and high inflation etc.
WAY FORWARD:
The global agenda for sustainable development in transforming the World by 2030 includes 17 goals and their
100 targets and the foremost goal indicates that there must be no poverty by 2030. Further Vision-2025 of the
current Government also speaks about the poverty by outlining to increase the per capita income from $1,299 to
$4,200, bring down poverty from 49 percent population to 20 percent and increase the exports up to $150 billion
by 2025.
In order to achieve these goals and target there is an urgent need to follow sustainable and pro-poor national
frame work for social protection and the growth strategy which may include; structural reforms to create jobs,
social investment to raise growth and make it more inclusive over the long-term. The scale and ambition of
the proposed strategy requires a revitalized the partnership of the relevant stakeholders and solidarity and
commitment through a social contract with the poorest and with the people in vulnerable situation to ensure
the strategy implementation. This can only be possible when the poverty vicious cycle trap is addressed
through pro-poor growth and development.
‫تعقیب‬ ‫و‬ ‫معلومات‬ ‫براۓ‬
‫یونیورسٹی‬ ‫انٹرنیشنل‬ ‫رفاہ‬
‫کمپلیکس‬ ‫المیزان‬
274‫پاکستان‬ ،‫راولپنڈی‬ ،‫روڈ‬ ‫پشاور‬
HR Department
tameer.emag@riphah.edu.pk
Tel: 92 51 5125162-7, Ext-231
UAN: 92 51 111 510 510
For Information & Feedback
Punjab (19%): the southern districts are effected by poverty like; Rajanpur (44%), Muzaffargarh (40%), DG
Khan (36%), Bahawalpur (33%), Layyah and Lodhran( 31 %), Pakpattan, Multan, Khanewal and Bhakkar(28%)
under poverty line.