Pakistan's near 30 pct population below the poverty line: Ahsan Iqbal

The number of poor increased owing to the adoption of a new method of measuring poverty which uses the 2013-14 survey data, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal told the seminar while co-chairing along with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

Ahsan Iqbal said the incumbent government was committing itself to a greater challenge because 2001 poverty line formula that placed 20m people poor was outdated and misleading.

The new poverty line estimates the number of poor households at 6.8m to 7.6m in the country.

According to 2013-14 data, the poverty headcount ratio comes out to be 29.5pc of the population. In monetary terms, poverty line stands at Rs3,030 per adult equivalent per month, Iqbal said.

The percentage of the poor under the old poverty line method, fell by around 25 percentage points, from a high of 34.6pc in 2001-02 to 9.3pc in 2013-14.

The analysis of the data under the new poverty line criteria, keeps the poverty headcount ratio at 63.3pc in 2001-02, which has progressively fallen to existing 29.5pc.