Pakistan’s social fabric is fraying as poverty engulfs 29 percent of its people—the most in 11 years. Official numbers from Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal paint a dire portrait of national distress.
Some 70 million endure extreme poverty below 8,484 rupees monthly. This 32 percent hike since 2018-19’s 21.9 percent rate occurred rapidly, hitting 28.9 percent in PM Sharif’s debut year.
Matching 2014’s 29.5 percent nadir, inequality soars to 32.7—a 27-year pinnacle. At 7.1 percent, unemployment is the worst in 21 years.
The IMF’s structural adjustments get partial blame: subsidy axing, forex freefall, hyperinflation. Catastrophic floods and growth stagnation amplified the pain.
Disparities ravage regions. Rural poverty: 28.2 percent to 36.2 percent. Urban: 11 percent to 17.4 percent.
Provincially: Punjab from 16.5 percent to 23.3 percent. Sindh to 32.6 percent from 24.5 percent. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 35.3 percent from 28.7 percent. Balochistan’s 47 percent poverty (from 42 percent) means almost one in two residents struggles.
Household income nosedived 12 percent last year to 31,127 rupees; spending dipped >5 percent. Inflation devoured gains, slashing real wealth.
Reversing a 13-year decline, this surge calls for emergency measures. Pakistan’s leadership faces a reckoning to stem the bleed.