Poverty reduced but urban-ruler gap widened in Pakistan: World bank report

A World Bank (WB) report stated that poverty in Pakistan saw a decline, nevertheless, the disparity of impoverishment widened between the urban and rural factions of the society.

The WB recently published its report titled ‘When Water Becomes a Hazard’, on the state of water supply, sanitation, and poverty in the country.

“Pakistan has made substantial progress in reducing poverty, but spatial disparities in poverty levels as well as in the pace of poverty reduction remain large,” the report said.

The report detailed that ruler areas of Pakistan are poorer than the urban parts, however, in last 15 years, the degree of poverty in the country was significantly decreased to half of the previous figures.

In 2001, the poverty level was 64 percent which has reduced up to 30 percent lately, the report added.

Highlight the progress of provinces in poverty alleviation, the report noted, “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saw the largest decline in poverty, followed by Punjab and Sindh. Balochistan remained the poorest.”

Mentioning other indicators of a quality life in Pakistan, the WB report read, “Health behaviours and access to primary curative health care also improved. Yet, surprisingly, two critical markers of child health: rates of diarrhea and stunting have shown virtually no signs of a decline.”