CHAPTER: 3

Pakistan is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. With the rise in
population the rise in poverty level is also very much seen. Today poor is the one
who suffers everything in double measure. This means that anything for example
lack of food resources, shelter and other basic needs which are required for living
are, despite of being provided, unreachable to the poor. Poverty is Pakistans one of
the biggest hindrance in development. Every week we hear about Pakistans
appalling poverty indicators. Every week somebody declares an emergency. Every
week a politician says we must do better. Every week a disillusioned public refuses
to believe this can happen.
Has anyone ever imagined Pakistan where every night not a single being sleeps
hungry? Has anyone ever imagined Pakistan in which every single being in under a
proper shelter? Has anyone ever imagined Pakistan where Pakistani taxpayers help
to send the familys children to school and provide vocational training to help
develop the skills necessary to earn a living and where the government, NGOs and
donors target their support towards the same people so that they can lift
themselves out of poverty?
The first and foremost problem that can be considered as a hurdle in development
is the lack of entrepreneurship in people. People are not drawn towards change and
taking risks. One tradition that has been going since ages will always be going on in
the same way. If a mechanic is working at a workshop then his son will do the same.
Let me share an incident I was going through an area in Karachi near Ayesha manzil
where I saw this ten years old boy was playing an instrument (dhol). His father was
clapping in front of him and I could see how proud he was while playing that
instrument. He was sweating heavily and his complexion was darkened due to the
heat of the sun. The thought crossed my mind that it does not even occur to him
that he has no future or at least not a bright one. He is happy with what he is doing,
no one is there to tell his father that along with that education is also important
then the question is if these people wont do this work how are they going to eat?
My first point as I mentioned above is lack of entrepreneurship. The thing is that
even is money or capital will be provided to these people how will they be using it?
They do not know how to start business, how to run a business and where to invest?
Poverty will not be cured by providing them money at first hand there should be
proper guidance about how to use capital profitably.
Pakistan is going through many problems starting from poverty to war on terrorism.
There are major obstacles to development. I have picked poverty because for me
human development is far more important than military development. I am not
criticizing military. It has been doing great efforts as Pakistan is under a great threat
from non-state actors. My focus is on human development because it has not been
addressed due to some other problems whatsoever.

Poverty is a worst form of violence. It ruins generations and deprive people of the
basic needs which they deserve. What are the major causes of poverty in Pakistan? I
am going to cover two main aspects. One is mindset of people and the other is lack
of governance. According to me both the reasons work hand in hand in escalating
the poverty. It will be wrong to criticize only one part of the picture without looking
at the other. Poverty in Pakistan spreads across a variety of issues: a very fastgrowing population facing lack of education, jobs, technology, capital and
investment.
When Pakistan came into being it was a poor state with a very low infrastructure.
With the Kashmir dispute and ongoing wars with India, Pakistan has tried to
overcome poverty. Today problems are different than that time. Population growth
has increased over time. It is becoming difficult for a state to provide basic needs to
all the people equally which is why Pakistan goes through a social unrest as well.
The Reason the government fears social unrest is that the population is growing
very, very fast. And providing jobs, housing and education for everyone isnt an
easy task. In the last 10 years, the population in Pakistan has grown by 40 million,
making it the 6th largest country in the world with about 180 million inhabitants.
The reason poverty became such an important topic in recent years is that more
and more people now realize how important it is for peace, stability and economic
development. Where there is conflict and war, there is only damage and suffering.
In these conditions, not much can thrive but violence. The people who actually go
through problems due to such incidents are the poor community. At present, only 30
per cent of children in the poorest families go to school. These children are half the
future workforce of Pakistan. So why not use the scheme to provide them with
essential food and nutrients so that they have a productive future?
So the question here is that why education is not being provided to the poor people?
Is it just the matter of providence or lack of motivation? Have people become so
lethargic that they do not want to get education? Why there is such kind attitude
where people sleep at night thinking okay another day has over. This issue is
serious. Pakistan has high level of illiteracy rate. In the overall population 49% are
men and 51% are women according to the latest survey. So it means that there are
more women than men. This has led us to another horizon of causes of poverty.
There isnt only illiteracy but also indiscrimination in families.
Where the growing Pakistani population can become a problem is that because of
the lack of infrastructure for education, the problem of inefficiency, poor agricultural
techniques and illiteracy spreads all the faster across the country. Thus the little
growth generated by the country is absorbed for the needs of the growing
population in terms of jobs, food and housing. To sustain development, GDP growth
should therefore be higher than population growth (as it is actually the case now).
The other problem is in fact that of urbanization. Pakistan is indeed one of the most

urbanized countries in South Asia, with a little over 50% of the population living in
cities of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
As we talked about vicious cycle of poverty in our last session we have discussed
that every cause of poverty is connected with each other and we cannot ignore not
even one cause, illiteracy and indiscrimination are both connected to the rise in
poverty. So can we say that poverty rises due to these causes? Now the question is
who is responsible people or government? Let us pick one. If we say that illiteracy is
the biggest cause of poverty so what are reasons of people being uneducated? One
cause of that is that people do not have sufficient funds for getting education. If we
here differentiate between education and training, according to me both have same
importance. Here let me define literacy. Literacy is an ability of a person to read
write and use arithmetic. Under this definition a person should be called illiterate
after passing matriculation as after matriculation a person can read, write and use
math as well.
Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world and according to the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it is 55
per cent and Pakistan stands at 160th in total countries of the world. Many schools
and colleges are entering the education industry especially in various big cities of
Pakistan but those living in rural areas are on a greater loss. Even if children want to
study, they cant, due to lack of resources or family pressure. The main reason for
families not allowing their children especially girls to study is again illiteracy. Many
Pakistani scholars focus on the lack of productivity and low literacy levels of the
domestic in workforce to explain poverty in Pakistan.
However 3-4 years later, improvements led literacy levels to climb up to 60% of the
population. The problem remains the inequality behind this number: nearly 70% of
men are literate but only 45% of women are. Another contradiction is being seen as
a difference between absolute poverty and relative poverty. Some people in rich
families always look for better institution for their children to study. There are
families suffering from absolute poverty cannot even send their children in low class
schools. Why this contradiction occurs? People then have an easy going attitude
which makes them not so interested in getting education. In a family of six people
where four are girls and one is guy the culture of dependency rises. How can a boy
alone take care of a family? They do not grow or develop because a father expects a
lot from a guy and to do so not sending his daughters outside for getting education.
This is called a static situation and this is the reason why most of the families are
not able to get out of poverty.
If we examine the literacy rate in provinces separately we see that over 56% of
countries population makes Punjab one of the most populous provinces of Pakistan.
It consists of many important cities such as Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur,
Gujranwala, Multan, Sialkot and so on. Over 3.8 million illiterate people currently
reside in Punjab. This means that millions of people over the age of 15 cannot read

or write in any language. There are only six districts in Punjab that have above 70pc
literacy rate. They are Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Chakwal and Gujrat. Most of
the improvements have been seen at the primary level. Still a lot of work needs to
be done in order to bring a bigger change.
Known for having a population of over 25 million people, Sindh can be called the
most populated province of Pakistan. As far as its literacy rates are concerned, they
are below 50 percent in rural areas. Karachi is leading the race and the rest are not
even on the second or third position. Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas, Larkana and
Jamshoro are a few other cities that can see a reasonable amount of literacy rate.
On the whole, many children are deprived of education due to which a greater
percentage of child labor can also be witnessed.
In Khyber pakhtoon khwah due to increasing security threats, families here are
always concerned about sending children to schools. According to a recent report,
the overall literacy rate in this province is 50%. Peshawar is among the most
densely populated cities of KPK and is known for having a number of private and
public schools. Some of the other major cities such as Mansehra, Mardana and
Mingora are still deprived of a proper educational system.
For being an arid desert and a mountainous region, Balochistan province has always
had hardships in building school based amenities. Just over one-quarter (28%) of
the population 10 years and over is literate, with males 39% and females 16%. The
barren land plays the role of a barrier in most of the cities resulting in a very poor
literacy rate. It is a challenge for Pakistan to improve its literacy rate and the
situation demands that the government rethink the whole issue of literacy. Children
are among the most valuable assets to any country and they need to be provided
with proper education no matter what circumstances. Education works as a
foundation for any child, it needs to be strong and firm in order to change the face
of Pakistan.
Education is one of the most important factors in overcoming poverty. The one
reason is that as discussed above that all the causes of poverty are interconnected.
Hence illiteracy leads to unemployment which is also another cause of poverty. One
crucial area that Pakistan must now focus on is education and training (aka human
capital). This is really an issue that no country can bypass if it is serious about
developing its economy and its society. But of course its also a very controversial
point because its an investment that threatens to change the society and its power
balance. A more educated population is more difficult to deal with and it also
creates many transformations in the way society and traditions work.
Change is the rule of nature. How can people develop and grow if they are still
following the traditional means of production. How will they be able to prosper if
they have not broadened their horizons? If we talk about society we see how people
have been following the chauvinist mind set. Not sending girls for working outside is

very normal. Sending a girl out to work is very much lethal. If in case a girl has
fought for her freedom and became doctor or something they get her married under
the famous saying aik doctor bahu chahiye jo ghar chala sakey (one doctor
daughter in law who can take care of the household). Have you educated your
daughter for over twenty five years to get her married? I do not oppose marriage I
am just opposing those mind sets which ask a girl to not work. A household, in
todays world, cannot be managed if only one person is working. So how can people
get out of poverty if the whole family is not even working?
Pakistan has more women in its population which means that a main sector which
should be put on work had been put in the cages. Poverty is very much connected
to such mindset. Poverty increases when a household is being managed by one sole
head of the family. So here we can say that the development remains static. In
Pakistan we have seen that many women have not been allowed to go out for jobs.
Development is not possible until all the family members are not working. Pakistan
has employment issues as well. Many people who have even had a degree could not
get a good job. One thing is connected to another. Illiteracy leads to unemployment
and unemployment leads to poverty.
Poverty is becoming a dogma of Pakistani society. As discussed above that people
are becoming lethargic towards development. When poverty hits the society it leads
to the unfortunate activities for example child labor. Parents send their kids to work
mostly because they dont have the choice, if they want everyone in the household
to survive. Child labor is an extreme means of survival and it represents a lot of
money to many families. This is why the best option isnt always to ban it, but to
encourage education and offer financial support to desperate families. A loan for
business, a job or a study grants are as many tools that can make a huge
difference.
In Pakistan, over 65% of working children are busy in agriculture, hunting and
fishing. In fact child labor is more common in countries that have a great rural
population as families often need help in the fields. However because of the usual
cultural bias against girls (in most developing countries), they tend to be employed
more often in the fields than boys since parents usually prefer investing in their
male kids. Since 1991, child labor is banned in Pakistan. The problem especially in
cities is that this ban pushes many kids to find more illegal jobs (prostitution, theft,
drug trafficking) where bosses obviously dont care so much about the law. On the
other hand, regular child labor also involves its own share of health risks: carrying
heavy loads damages the backbone and working with pesticide-filled crops causes
lung diseases.
Recent studies on child labor in Pakistan have shown that poor and not-so-poor
families with lots of land were more likely to send their kids to work in the fields
than families with little land. The reason is that obviously parents need to actively
think about other sources of income when there isnt enough land to feed everyone.

And when there is, it seems like an obvious, easy solution to get help from your kids
to survive. Another study confirmed with little surprise that the poorer kids were,
the worse they performed at school. Similarly, the more time they spent working,
the more likely they were to drop out from school early. What to do then? First
making these results known is very important. Many parents completely change
their attitude once they realize that theyve been favoring some their kids (boys)
over the rest (girls).
Yet, many dont change anything, but a majority isnt actively aware of the social
and cultural bias against girls that pushes them to do so. Then again, its also a
matter of education to show that with similar chances, girls can achieve just as
much as boys. One obvious way to decrease child labor is also to provide school
grants for kids who live in poor families, so that their parents dont have to make a
choice between sending them to school or to the fields. Its also crucial to make
sure that kids attend school regularly which should be a condition of receiving the
financial support.
There are several decades-old studies on the connection between income inequality
(gap between the revenues of the richest and poorest) and economic growth that
show how inequality can affect the overall performance of a country. Back then they
believed that with wealth created from pure economic growth would eventually
trickle down and thus reduce the inequalities in Pakistan (or anywhere else for
that matter). Of course, what happened in reality was very different. The rich
usually got richer and that lead to all kinds of new problems in Pakistan; from
corruption to elitism and social discrimination (rich vs. poor).
The problem with the way most governments fight poverty is they dont realize that
a lot of people go back and forth between poverty and precariousness (i.e. chronic
poverty). Some years are (slightly) better than others, some are terrible. These
people are the hardest to target and yet they represent millions of people who
arent included in the estimations of poverty in Pakistan. Therefore developing the
poorest areas in Pakistan is crucial to help them develop and access the same
services as normal Pakistani citizens do. Roads, telecommunications, transport
systems, everything matters. With the disastrous floods that plagued Pakistan in
recent years, this is even more important than ever. And more than ever, geography
matters too. People in remote places are hit hardest by floods and poverty as little
government relief or help can reach them easily. Exclusion and marginalization from
the rest of the country are huge factors increasing extreme poverty. A range of
governance and business environment indicators suggest that deep improvements
in governance are needed to unleash Pakistan's growth potential
The report unveiled by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal in Islamabad details the
countrys official Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which shows a sharp decline
with national poverty rates falling from 55 % to 39% from 2004 to 2015. In Northern
Punjab and urban Sindh people more prosperous than rest of country. Rather than

income and wealth alone, the MPI uses broader measures to determine poverty
based on access to healthcare, education and the overall standard of living, thus
giving a more detailed understanding of poverty. The report states 38.8% of
Pakistans population lives in poverty. A majority of the rural population (54.6%)
lives in acute poverty while this ratio is only 9.4% in urban areas, emphasizing the
need to make rural-centric economic policies
Among the provinces, multidimensional poverty is the highest in Balochistan and
the lowest in Punjab.If regions are also included, the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (Fata) has the highest poverty rate, where three out of every four persons
(73.7%) are poor.Fata is followed by Balochistan (71.2%) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
(K-P), where half of the population (49.2%) suffers from acute poverty and
deprivation. In Sindh, 43.1% population is extremely poor due to lack of education,
health facilities and poor living standards. In Gilgit-Baltistan, 43.2% people are poor
while in Punjab, three out of ten (31.4%) and in AJK four out of 10 (25%) persons are
poor. Except K-P, where the poverty level remained almost the same over a period
of two years, in the other three provinces the acute poverty level declined from
2012-13 to 2014-15.
The planning minister said poverty came down largely because of the growth in the
informal economy. It is unfortunate that many millions are still left behind, he said
while commenting on the findings of the report. He acknowledged the development
was not about numbers but about people. No matter how good numbers look, such
development only caters to the need of the elite and the powerful, Iqbal said. Four
of the five poorest districts are in Balochistan, where poverty level is alarmingly
high. The poorest district is Kila Abdullah with 97% poor population, followed by
Harnai 94.2%, Barkhan 93.6%, Sherani 90.6% and Kohistan in K-P with 95.8% poor
people.
In Sindh, Tharparkar has been declared the poorest district with 87% population
living under the poverty line followed by Umerkot 84.7%, Tando Muhammad Khan
78.4% and Badin and Kashmore where almost 75% of the population is poor. In
Punjab, Muzaffargarh (64.8%) and Rajanpur (64.4%) are the poorest districts,
followed by DG Khan 63.7% and Bahawalpur 53%. All these districts are part of
southern Punjab, which has been neglected by successive governments over the
years. The more alarming indicator is the intensity of poverty, as each poor person
lacks access to half of the indicators selected for measuring poverty. The MPI
findings show 60.6% of Pakistans population does not have access to cooking fuel,
48.5% do not complete schooling, almost four out of every 10 people (39%) do not
have any assets and over 38% of the population lives in a one-room shelter. About
one-third population does not have access to health facilities.
The report, prepared by the Planning Ministry with the technical support of UNDP
Pakistan and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), revealed
that 4 out 10 Pakistanis (nearly 39 percent) live in multidimensional poverty, with

the highest rates of poverty in FATA and Balochistan. The report also found that
poverty levels had actually increased in several districts of Balochistan and Sindh
during the past decade. The report included the figures about MPI from 2004-5 to
2014-15. Pakistan has set zero poverty goal much before the year 2030, as the
reduction of multidimensional poverty is one of the core objectives of Pakistans
Vision 2025, Federal Minister for Planning Development and Reforms said this while
launching the first ever official report on multidimensional poverty.
The report noted that the disparity between rural and urban poverty increased over
the years. Multidimensional poverty is significantly higher in rural areas than in
urban centers. The ratio between rural and urban headcount has almost doubled
from three times in 2004-5 to nearly six times in 2014-15. Pakistan has historically
used the Food Energy Intake (FEI) method for poverty measurement. Using this
methodology and the poverty line of Rs 2,259.4 per adult per month poverty in
Pakistan declined from 29.3 percent in 1998-99 to 9.3 percent in 2013-14. The
methodology was changed in 2016 to Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) and poverty line
was revised to Rs 3030.32 per adult per month. According to this new methodology
the poverty has dropped from 57.9 percent to 29.5 percent between 1998-99 and
2013-14.
Now Pakistan has switched over to Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which
captures the severe deprivation that each person experiences with respect to
education, health and standard of living. The MPI is the product of two components;
one is incidence of poverty and the second is intensity of poverty. Incidence of
poverty is the percentage of people who are identified as multidimensional poor, or
the poverty headcount. Intensity of poverty is the average dimensions in which poor
people are deprived. Pakistan National MPI constitutes three dimensions of
education, health and standard of living and 15 indicators. While each dimension
carries an equal weight of 1/3, the weights of component indicator differ. The
indicators includes years of schooling 16.67%, child school attendance 12.50%,
school quality 4.17%, access to health facilities 16.67%, immunization 5.56 %, antenatal care 5.56%, assisted delivery 5.56%, water 4.76%, sanitation 4.76%, walls
2.38%, overcrowding 2.38%, electricity 4.76%, cooking fuel 4.76%, assets 4.76%,
and land and livestock 4.76%, (only for rural areas).
The report details Pakistans official Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which was
earlier published in the Economic Survey of Pakistan 20152016. Pakistans MPI
showed a strong decline, with national poverty rates falling from 55% to 39% from
2004 to 2015. However progress across different regions of Pakistan is uneven.
Poverty in urban areas is 9.3 percent as compared to 54.6 percent in rural areas.
Disparities also exist across provinces. The report found that over two-thirds of
people in FATA (73 percent) and Balochistan (71 percent) live in multidimensional
poverty. The overall poverty in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stands at 49.2 percent, GilgitBaltistan and Sindh at 43.2 percent, Punjab at 31 percent and Azad Jammu and

Kashmir at 25 percent. However the rural poverty is much higher which includes
50.7 % in KP, 53.5% in Sindh, and 48.4% in Punjab.
There are severe differences between districts: Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi have
less than 10 percent multidimensional poverty, while Qila Abdullah, Harnai and
Barkhan (all in Balochistan) have more than 90 percent poverty. Deprivation in
education contributes the largest share of 43 percent to MPI followed by living
standards which contributes nearly 32 percent and health contributing 26 percent.
These findings further confirm that social indicators are very weak in Pakistan, even
where economic indicators appear healthy. The report also found that the decrease
in multidimensional poverty was slowest in Balochistan, while poverty levels had
actually increased in several districts in Baluchistan and Sindh during the past
decade. The level and composition of multidimensional poverty for each of
Pakistans 114 districts are also covered in this report.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index uses a broader concept of poverty than income
and wealth alone. It reflects the deprivations people experience with respect to
health, education and standard of living, and is thus a more detailed way of
understanding and alleviating poverty. Since its development by OPHI and UNDP in
2010, many countries, including Pakistan, have adopted this methodology as an
official poverty estimate, complementing consumption or income-based poverty
figures. Speaking at the launch, the Minister for Planning, Development and Reform,
Professor Ahsan Iqbal, said Pakistan has set zero poverty goal much before the year
2030, adding,the reduction of multidimensional poverty is one of the core objectives
of Pakistans Vision 2025. He said that inclusive and balanced growth, which
benefits everyone and especially the marginalized communities, is government
priority and is essential for promoting harmony in society. MPI is a useful instrument
for inform public policy for targeting, budgeting, resource allocation and inclusion.
Pakistans MPI establishes baseline not for only Vision 2025, but also for Pakistans
progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and complements
the consumption-based poverty estimates recently released by the Government of
Pakistan.
Marc-Andr Franche, UNDP Country Director said, We consider this a highly
innovative approach because of its multi-faceted nature and the availability of
estimates at the sub-national level. Multidimensional poverty provides useful
analysis and information for targeting poverty, and reducing regional inequalities.
Many countries are using MPI to inform government priorities for planning and it is
encouraging to see Government of Pakistan adopting MPI to complement monetary
poverty measure in Pakistan. Dr Sabina Alkire, Director OPHI, congratulated
Pakistan on launching the national MPI as an official poverty measure. She said,
Developed with input from all provinces, Pakistans MPI is very robust and we have
been very pleased to work alongside the very strong academic and policy
community in Pakistan. Pakistans leadership will be of interest to over 40 other

countries in the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network who are using

multidimensional poverty measures in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Addressing a seminar on Poverty Estimation while co-chairing along with Finance
Minister Ishaq Dar, Mr Iqbal said the incumbent government was committing itself
to a greater challenge because 2001 poverty line formula that placed 20m people
poor was outdated and misleading. The new poverty line estimates the number of
poor households at 6.8m to 7.6m. So we are raising bar for ourselves. But we have
decided to do so, the minister said.
Using 2013-14 data, the poverty headcount ratio comes out to be 29.5pc of the
population. In monetary terms, poverty line stands at Rs3,030 per adult equivalent
per month, the minister said. Under the old poverty line, the percentage of the poor
fell by around 25 percentage points, from a high of 34.6pc in 2001-02 to 9.3pc in
2013-14. Further analysis of the past data under the new poverty line estimates the
poverty headcount ratio at 63.3pc in 2001-02, which has now fallen to 29.5pc.
Headcount poverty was computed in Pakistan in 2001. Since then the ground reality
has changed altogether amid structural reforms, liberalization, social safety nets,
increase in remittances and natural calamities.
In the 16 years, the country has changed in many important ways. The line,
therefore, sets far too low a bar for inclusive development policies, he said. We
needed to choose from reference group, measure of welfare (calories) and method,
the minister said, adding: We have chosen 10-40pc of distribution as reference
group, 2,350 calories as minimum welfare measure and cost of basic needs as
method.
The 2001 model of poverty measurement was based on food energy intake (FEI),
which was not a representative one. To make it more transparent and coherent, the
government has also incorporated costs of basic needs (CBN) for capturing non-food
expenditures in the new formula. Non-food items will include expenditures on
education, health and mobile phones. These will be added to basket for calculating
the exact number of poor in the country. Data shows poverty levels were in decline
since 2001, falling from 34.7pc in 2000-01 to 23.3pc in 2004-05, 21.9pc in 2005-06,
16.5pc in 2007-08, 12.2pc in 2010-11, 12.4pc in 2011-12 and 9.3pc in 2013-14 as
estimated by the World Bank.
Meanwhile, Mr Dar said there was no need to go for a new International Monetary
Fund (IMF) programme. The government has taken several steps to promote
economic growth in the country. He said the foreign exchange reserves have
touched a historic high level. The minister said that poverty is a challenge and the
government would take measures to cut it. Whatever the methodology, the
poverty level in the country has declined, he said.
Pakistan's Vision 2025 reaffirms the need to make economic growth inclusive and
sustainable in order to eradicate poverty. It also recognises that poverty is

multidimensional, encompassing not only monetary deprivation but also the

inaccessibility of healthcare, education and other amenities for all communities
across the country. In accordance with the Government's commitment to eradicate
poverty, this report presents Pakistan's first national Multidimensional Poverty Index
(MPI) based on the Alkire- Foster methodology. It has three dimensions: education,
health and living standards. To tailor the measure to Pakistan's context and public
policy priorities, 15 indicators were used for this national measure, instead of the 10
employed for the global measure.
Within these 15 indicators, three indicators are included under the dimension of
education (years of schooling, child school attendance, and educational quality),
four under health (access to health facilities/clinics/Basic Health Units (BHU),
immunisation, ante-natal care, and assisted delivery) and eight under living
standards (water, sanitation, walls, overcrowding, electricity, cooking fuel, assets,
and a land/livestock indicator specifically for rural areas). Each of the three
dimensions carries an equal weight of 1/3 of the MPI. The weights of the component
indicators within each dimension are equal unless another justification is provided,
as outlined in Section 2.1.3. Overall, a person must be deprived in 1/3 of these
weighted indicators to be identified as multidimensionally poor.
Applying this measure to data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards
Measurement (PSLM) survey for the 2014/15 period, we found that the country's
Multidimensional Poverty Index stands at 0.197. This indicates that poor people in
Pakistan experience 19.7% of the deprivations that would be experienced if all
people were deprived in all indicators. Secondly, it must be noted that the MPI is a
product of two essential components: the poverty headcount and the intensity
of deprivation. Using the same data from the 2014/15 PSLM survey, the country's
multidimensional poverty headcount ratio was estimated at 38.8% of the
population. This means that 38.8% of the population of Pakistan is poor according to
the MPI. The average intensity of deprivation, which reflects the share of deprivation
which each poor person experiences on average, is 50.9%.
There are stark regional disparities in poverty across Pakistan. The proportion of
people identified as multidimensionally poor in urban areas is significantly lower
than in rural areas 9.4% and 54.6%, respectively. Further heterogeneities were
found when looking at results at the provincial level. In 2014/15, MPI headcount
ratios ranged from 31.4% in Punjab (with an intensity of 48.4%), to 71.2% in
Balochistan (with an average intensity of 55.3%). With respect to the percentage
which each of the 15 indicators contributes to overall multidimensional poverty in
Pakistan, the greatest contribution to national poverty derives from years of
schooling (29.7%), followed by a lack of access to healthcare facilities (19.8%) and
child school attendance (10.5%). If aggregated by dimensions, the greatest
contribution to poverty stems from educational deprivation (42.8%), followed by
living standards (31.5%)%) and healthcare (25.7%).

Over Time Since 2004/05, multidimensional poverty has continuously declined in

Pakistan. The MPI fell from 0.292 in 2004/05 to 0.197 in 2014/15, while the poverty
headcount ratio fell from 55.2% to 38.8%. The intensity of deprivation also declined
over the same period, falling from 52.9% to 50.9%. Similar trends are evident
across all provinces and regions, with the exception of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (A
JK ) which experienced an increase in multidimensional poverty between 2010/11
and 2012/13. In terms of relative change in its MPI, Punjab accounts for the highest
relative reduction (40.2%), while Balochistan experienced the slowest progress in
reducing multidimensional poverty, with a relative change of only 17.7%. At the
district level, Larkana, Attock, Malakand, T.T. Singh and Hyderabad have made the
most progress, reducing absolute poverty headcount ratio by more than 32
percentage points. In relative terms the best performers were the districts of
Islamabad, Attock, Jhelum, Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. On the other hand,
some districts have experienced an increase in their poverty incidence. In absolute
and relative terms, the districts of Umerkot, Harnai, Panjgur, Killa Abdullah and
Kashmore have witnessed the highest increase in incidence of poverty.