Poverty grips 44.7% of Pakistan’s population: World bank

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has decleared that 44.7 percent of Pakistan’s population is beneath the poverty line, making it 107.95 million Pakistanis.

The Bank has changed the scale of poverty testing worldwide, with daily income threshold has been set at $4.20 in lower-middle-income countries, including Pakistan.

Earlier, those earning less than $3.65 a day were considered poor, making the poverty rate in Pakistan 39.8 percent.

Those earning less than Rs1,200 a day in Pakistan will be called poor. Changing the method will not have any impact on the standard of living of the people.

The government of Pakistan has not yet provided the results of the new census. There is no new census to test poverty, old data from 2018-19 was used.

To determine extreme poverty, the daily income threshold has been set at $3. Pakistan has 16.5 percent of its population living in extreme poverty. More than 39.8 million people in Pakistan are in the extreme poverty category.

Pakistan is among the world’s lower-middle-income countries. The poverty line for low-income countries has been raised from $2.15 to $3.

In upper-middle-income countries, the poverty line has been increased from $6.85 to $8.30 per day. According to this definition, 88.4 percent of Pakistan’s population is below this threshold.