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| Contributor | Dr Noor Muhammad Larik, Federal Bureau of Statistics, Islamabad, Pakistan |
| Title of paper | Poverty in the 1990s |
| Abstract | This paper assesses poverty trends in the last decade in Pakistan using four different household surveys collected in the 1990s by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, and outlines the main characteristics of the poor. While in the 1980s poverty was reported to have decreased, the 1990s represent a lost decade, in which there was no progress against poverty, it remained stable, and slightly increased at the turn of the millennium. Furthermore, during the decade inequality increased, suggesting that the problems of the economy are not only the low level of growth, but also its structure. Large parts of the population appear to be unaffected by economic growth, or they are too vulnerable to economic shocks of various kinds. Patterns of poverty differ by province, and between rural and urban areas. The data consistently shows that poverty is considerably higher in rural as compared to urban areas. Differences between urban and rural areas are particularly notable in Sindh, where rural poverty is more than double the urban incidence. There are also significant differences between provinces: poverty is lowest in urban Sindh, and most severe in the rural areas of NWFP, lower Punjab and Balochistan. Poverty is strongly related to the absence of basic human and physical assets, especially education and land. This in turn undermines income and employment opportunities, and traps the poor in working arrangements that prevent them escaping poverty. Education is the most significant factor that characterises the difference between the poor and the non-poor. |
| Full document | Poverty in the 1990s |
This page last revised: Friday, 7 June 2002
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