Some Shocking Trends Of Pakistan

Based on the requirements of 2150 calories, the Government of Pakistan has adopted the official poverty line in 1998-99 as Rs.650 per capita per month. According to the caloric-based poverty definition (headcount ratio), 29.2 percent people in Pakistan lived below the poverty line in 1998-99 and as per the survey report of State Bank of Pakistan 2002-2003 it has increased to 36 percent. This simply means that almost one third of Pakistan’s population is living below the poverty line. With population of 165 million (2003), Pakistan ranks 7th in terms of World's population size and this means that at least 70 million people in Pakistan live below the poverty line.

In 1947, 32.7 million people lived in E/W Pakistan. According to estimates, by the end of 2004 the total population will be 161.96 million. Thus, in roughly two generations, Pakistan’s population has increased by 130 million, or has grown at an average rate of 3 percent per annum. And presently this growth rate is 3.5 percent i.e. addition of 4.1 million persons every year. And with 3.5 percent population growth rate the total number will reach 217 million by the year 2020. This means that Pakistan has now more mouths to feed, more families to house, more children to educate more people are migrating from the countryside to major cities in search of jobs, raising pressure on the urban infrastructure, and giving rise to Katchi Abadies. According to projections of finance department of government, by year 2010, 45 percent of the country’s population will be living in urban areas. Population increase of this magnitude in Pakistan may create alarm for many, but these trends in population growth hide more promising developments.

About 3.34 million labor force is estimated to be unemployed in 2003 compared to 7.27 million in 2008. It reveals that unemployment in Pakistan has increased from 5.89 percent in 1998 to 15.82 percent in 2008. Similarly unemployment in the rural areas which was 5.0 percent in 1998 has risen to 6.94 percent in 2008 and urban unemployment from 8.0 percent in 1999 to 16.9 percent in 2008.