Top 4 Causes of Poverty in Pakistan
Pakistan is an Islamic country which came into being on 14th of August, 1997. With India in it’s East, Afghanistan in its West, China in its North and Arabian Sea in its South, Pakistan is located in the region of South Asia spanning 881,913 sq.km. Pakistan has been facing adverse economical conditions since its emergence and so does its people. The major issue of today in Pakistan is poverty. The country is constantly climbing up the list of poor countries of the world making more than half of its population to live under the poverty line. According to Pakistan’s new poverty index in 2016, poverty figures are 73% in FATA, 71% in Balochistan, 31% in Punjab and 43% in Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan. Below are the four prominent causes of poverty in Pakistan:
- Over-population: According to the reports of World Bank, the total population of Pakistan was 197,015,955 as of 2017 making Pakistan the sixth-most-populous country in the world. The growth rate of Pakistan says 2.0% as of 2017 thus, being a leading cause of poverty. Pakistan’s population is equivalent to 2.61% of world population. Population explosion in Pakistan leads to more mouths that need to be fed and less hands that earn.
- Illiteracy: Pakistan ranks 135th in the list of 150 countries when it comes to literacy rate according to UNESCO. According to the statistics presented by UNESCO, for total of 10,162,152 people, aged from 15-24, 3,894,797 men and 6,267,355 women are illiterate. Due to the lack of education and knowledge among Pakistani individuals, they are not able to find quality careers to meet their basic social needs to lead a quality life.
- Unemployment: Unemployment rate in Pakistan averaged 5.49% from 1985 until 2017 and reached 5.90% in 2017. Its cause is directly related to the problems of over-population and illiteracy in Pakistan. Since Pakistan appears sixth in the list of most populous countries of the world, majority of the Pakistan’s inhabitants are either poor farmers and laborers or unemployed because of the less job opportunities available. Low literacy rates have also contributed to the unemployment of individuals since they don’t meet the merits of available quality jobs thus, ending up in poverty.
- Poor Governance and Feudal System: Pakistan has a high rate of injustice and corruption that springs out of two factors; poor governance and feudalism approach in Pakistan. Landlords in Pakistan take a feudalistic approach and make wrong use of their power to suppress the rights of poor. Government, on the other hand, does not take any measures and steps to prevent the wrong from oppressing the poor citizens.
Pulling a nation off poverty is a quite difficult task which requires a huge amount of patience for the Government as well as for the public. Despite all the laws, bills and regulations made and passed by the Government of Pakistan, a little has been done to eradicate poverty from the country. But with a Poverty Headcount Ratio of 24.3% as of 2015 according to the World Bank, Pakistan’s poverty rate is seen to be declining gradually as compared to the 64.3% Poverty HCR in 2001. Still, according to the reports, nearly 39% of Pakistan’s population lives in multidimensional poverty which is a daunting figure.