Islamabad, Nov 11 — Pakistan is witnessing deepening poverty and a human development crisis, a report has detailed. The national poverty rate in Pakistan increased from 22 per cent in 2018-19 to 29 per cent in 2024-25, implying that about 70 million poor people in the country live below the national poverty line, a report in leading Pakistani daily Dawn mentioned citing the World Bank's Pakistan Poverty and Equity brief.
The Gini index in Pakistan has risen from 28.4 per cent to 32.7 per cent. According to the World Bank, Pakistan's reversal in poverty reduction has been caused due to economic shocks driven by Covid-19 pandemic, the floods in 2022, high inflation, and currency depreciation.
According to United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, 38.3 per cent of Pakistan's population is multidimensionally poor. As many as 32 million people are vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.
The depreciation also showcased in the 2026 Global Hunger Index, which placed Pakistan at the 106th spot among 122 nations. Pakistan has the highest hunger score in South Asia. Increase in food price in Pakistan is driven by declining household purchasing power and constrained access to food. According to the report, undernourishment in Pakistan rose from law in 2018 to medium while child wasting increased towards the 'high' threshold.
"All these reports reflect the severity of the crisis. A nationally representative mental health survey (2018-22), published in the British Medical Journal, revealed distressing facts. The survey found that every third Pakistani lives with a diagnosable mental or behavioural disorder; one in five meets the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder," Naseer Memon, senior adviser, water governance, at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, wrote in Dawn.
"A shocking 6 per cent reported suicidal thoughts, and more than one in 10 had depression. Such staggering rates of mental disorders have been linked to lower income and poor education, unemployment, age, and disrupted family circumstances," Memon added.
In October, Pakistan was ranked second-worst in South Asia on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2026 with a score of 25.5, trailing only Afghanistan, showcasing the country's deteriorating food insecurity and malnutrition challenges, local media reported.
The report published on the GHI website stated, "With a 2026 Global Hunger Index score of 25.5, Pakistan has a serious level of hunger," Pakistan's Geo News reported. Pakistan was only behind Afghanistan, which had a score of 28.6 on the GHI.
Pakistan was placed at the 106th position out of 122 countries globally on the GHI. Pakistan's score dropped from 36.2 in 2002 to 25.5 in 2026, showing some improvement, as per the report. The GHI score of Pakistan is based on four components: child stunting, undernourishment, child wasting and child mortality.