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Rural poverty in Pakistan

Poverty in Pakistan is predominantly a rural problem. While rural people make up two thirds of Pakistan’s population, they account for 90 per cent of the country’s poor people.

From 2001 to 2005, Pakistan’s poverty rate declined by about 10 per cent – to 24 per cent. However, health and education indicators remained low in comparison with other countries in South Asia, and socio-economic indicators for women remained the lowest in the subregion.

Current estimates suggest that Pakistan’s poverty rate has not changed since 2005. However, it is likely that recent earthquakes, record flooding, rising international food prices and global economic instability have had a negative, if unmeasured, impact. For example, it is estimated that in the last few years roughly 17 million people have joined the ranks of the 60 million living in food insecurity – with many more at risk.

Pakistan ranks 145th out of 187 countries on the United Nations Development Programme’s 2011 Human Development Index – a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide.

Agriculture is at the heart of the rural economy and accounts for roughly 22 per cent of Pakistan’s total economy. Most of the land in Pakistan is arid, semi-arid or rugged and not easily cultivated. Water resources are scarce throughout most of the country, and finding water for irrigation is a critical challenge for the agriculture sector – particularly in remote areas.

Currently, about 50 per cent of farmers are owner-operators and 26 per cent are tenants. It is common for tenant farmers to be in debt to landowners. The exact number of landless wage-labourers, the most vulnerable segment of the population, is not known. Altogether, there are over 4 million family farms, with an average farm size of 4.7 hectares. Although most rural people rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, many of the poorest also depend on non-farm activities for income.

The incidence of poverty in Pakistan varies from one province to the next. Poverty is widely and evenly distributed in mountainous regions, where communities are small, scattered and isolated, and where there are few major urban centres. The coastal belt and low rainfall areas also tend to have a high incidence of poverty and/or specific development problems. The rugged terrain and fragile ecosystems in these areas make farming difficult, while lack of access to markets and services contributes further to chronic poverty among local populations.

Those who suffer most acutely from rural poverty are small farmers with limited land and livestock ownership, landless farmers and especially women, who as a result of systemic gender discrimination have little access to resources, services or assets of their own.

A major cause of rural poverty in Pakistan is the highly unequal distribution of assets – particularly land and access to water. As a result, the direct gains in income from crop production tend to accrue to a mere fraction of the population. Other causes of rural poverty include the price of food, lack of education, limited access to health services, large family size, gender discrimination, environmental degradation and deterioration of the natural resource base.

Source: IFAD