IN contrast to official claims of economic stability, a series of recently released reports provide disturbing evidence of deepening poverty and a human development crisis in Pakistan.
According to the World Bank’s Pakistan Poverty and Equity briefthe national poverty rate spiralled from 22 per cent in 2018-19 to 29pc in 2024-25 — meaning that about 70 million poor people across the country live below the national poverty line. The Gini index, a measure of economic inequality, has increased from 28.4pc to 32.7pc, the highest in 25 years. The World Bank’s regional economic outlook reported that Pakistan is home to about half of the MENAAP region’s population that falls under the extremely poor category. The World Bank attributes Pakistan’s reversal in poverty reduction to economic shocks triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the devastating 2022 floods, high inflation, and currency depreciation.
The UNDP’s 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index reported that 38.3pc of Pakistan’s population (95m people) is multidimensionally poor — deprived not just of cash but also of necessities such as healthcare and education. Another 32m people are vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. Pakistan’s poor population of 38.3pc dwarfed India’s 16.4pc and Bangladesh’s 14.9pc.
The alarming scale of deprivation was also reflected in the 2026 Global Hunger Index, which placed Pakistan 106th among 122 countries. Pakistan has the highest hunger score in South Asia. The report attributes food price inflation to declining household purchasing power and constrained access to food. It finds that undernourishment in the country climbed from ‘low’ in 2018 to ‘medium’, while child wasting has risen towards the ‘high’ threshold.
Poverty is rooted in decades of misguided public policy.
All these reports reflect the severity of the crisis. A nationally representative mental health survey (2018-22), published in the British Medical Journal, revealed distressing facts. The survey found that every third Pakistani lives with a diagnosable mental or behavioural disorder; one in five meets the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. A shocking 6pc reported suicidal thoughts, and more than one in 10 had depression. Such staggering rates of mental disorders have been linked to lower income and poor education, unemployment, age, and disrupted family circumstances.
Human development has remained a chronically ignored priority in Pakistan. The UNDP’s Human Development Report 2025 placed Pakistan 168th out of 193 countries appearing in the ‘low’ human development category. Except for Afghanistan, all regional countries ranked ahead of Pakistan on the Human Development Index.
Poverty is rooted in decades of misguided public policy and bad governance. Human development has been given cosmetic importance — the subject is mostly confined to official speeches and election manifestos. Although Covid-19, the floods, and broader climate change have battered the economy, human development seldom features on the government’s list of priorities.
Geopolitical and ongoing border tensions, and more recently the Gulf war shocks, have diverted resources and attention from human development to security priorities. The issue has been further compounded by internal security challenges that have held back exports and stifled foreign investment. Terrorism in two provinces and the poor law and order situation have shattered local investments. This environment has forced many foreign companies to pack up and withdraw capital from our markets.
Agriculture — for long the bedrock of the national economy and a source of food security for millions — has been systematically eroded in recent decades. Sharp increases in agri-input prices, a poorly managed water sector, rapid land degradation, and exploitative market forces have wrecked this critical sector. Soaring energy prices, an unreliable grid, and a huge tax burden, including petroleum surcharges, have made energy exorbitant for the farm sector. Crippling increases in petroleum prices have pushed up transport fares, raising the cost of the farm-to-market supply chain. The resulting food inflation has forced millions of families to compromise on their diet.
Sadly, even though poverty and hunger have emerged as an existential challenge for millions of families in Pakistan, a national focus on these issues is absent. These issues rarely find space in the national discourse — especially on electronic media, which remains abuzz with hysterical talk shows on subjects like governor’s rule and new provinces. Distracting the masses from the real issues and failing to include critical report findings will not reduce the citizens’ frustration.
The writer is senior adviser, water governance, at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2026
Source: www.dawn.com
