ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s gains in poverty reduction have reversed in recent years, with the national poverty rate climbing to 25.3 percent in 2023-24 after falling steadily for nearly two decades, the World Bank said on Tuesday.
The findings were released in a new assessment, Reclaiming Momentum Towards Prosperity: Pakistan’s Poverty, Equity and Resilience Assessment, the first comprehensive review of poverty and welfare trends since the early 2000s.
Drawing on two decades of household surveys and projections, the report warns that Pakistan’s earlier progress has stalled, eroded by economic shocks and weak policy.
“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,” said Christina Wieser, a senior economist and one of the report’s lead authors. “Since 2021, poverty has begun to rise, exacerbated by COVID-19, the 2022 floods, inflation and faltering policies and reached 25.3 percent in 2023-24.”
She stressed the need for bold, sustained and people-centered reforms to reduce poverty, strengthen resilience and protect vulnerable populations, adding: “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.”
