Poverty rate crosses 25% in Pakistan: World Bank

The World Bank has said that the poverty rate in Pakistan has shot to 25.3 percent, surging by seven percent during the last three years.

According to the Bank, the poverty rate in Pakistan during 2021-22 was 18.3 percent, which soared to 24.8 percent during 2022-23 and it climbed up to 25.3 percent in 2023.24.

The World Bank on Tuesday released “Reclaiming Momentum Towards Prosperity: Pakistan’s Poverty, Equity and Resilience Assessment”, which marks the first evaluation of poverty and welfare trends in Pakistan since the early 2000s.

According to the report, after a steady decline from 64.3 percent in 2001-02 to 21.9 percent in 2018-19, the national poverty rate began to increase in 2020.

This is largely owing to compounding shocks, including COVID-19, inflation, floods, and macroeconomic stress, but also because the consumption-driven growth model that delivered early gains has reached its limits. 

Read more: World Bank report reveals 44.7% Pakistanis are living below poverty line

To address this, the World Bank calls for sustained and people-centered reforms to protect poor and vulnerable families, improve livelihood opportunities, and expand access to basic services for all.

The report taps into 25 years of official household surveys, now casted projections, geospatial analysis, and unique administrative data sources.

Official poverty estimates are based on multiple rounds of the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES), using Pakistan’s national poverty line and methodology, which remains the most relevant tool for policymaking. 

“Progress in poverty reduction is threatened by structural vulnerabilities,” said Christina Wieser, Senior Economist and one of the lead authors of the report. 

“Reforms that expand access to quality services, protect households from shocks, and create better jobs—especially for the bottom 40 percent—are essential to break cycles of poverty and deliver durable, inclusive growth.”