Urban poverty
When I first arrived in Pakistan in 1990, there were 120 million people. The population in urban areas was 33m. When I returned five months ago, there were 70 to…
Poverty and politics trip up urban refugees in India
When Hujjat Islam heard a fire had razed a Rohingya camp in New Delhi, his first reaction was relief: it could have been him and his family, their belongings burned…
Turning around poverty
For almost two decades, from 2001 to 2018, the poverty rate in Pakistan consistently fell – from a high of over 50 per cent to less than 20 per cent.…
Poverty of learning
POVERTY is not merely the absence of wealth. It is the absence of grit: the drive to acquire and apply essential skills for navigating life’s challenges. Such a deficit seems…
Producing poverty
FOR most of the Musharraf dictatorship, the World Bank, IMF and other lynchpins of the international financial architecture celebrated Pakistan’s economy. Real estate and stock market booms, the issuing of…
A new urban agenda for Pakistan
As World Habitat Day 2025, which falls on October 6, calls for ‘Urban Solutions to Crisis’, Pakistan faces a stark choice. The day could not be more timely for us,…
Poverty by design
ACCORDING to the World Bank’s new poverty estimates, 44.7 per cent of Pakistan’s population (around 110 million) now lives in poverty. The proportion of people living in extreme poverty has risen…
Poverty alleviation in Pakistan
Poverty alleviation refers to the efforts, strategies, and policies aimed at reducing or eliminating poverty. It involves improving the living standards, access to basic needs, and economic opportunities for people…
Poverty may trump low inflation
Inflation has come down dramatically – from 28.3 percent in January 2024 to 1.5 percent in February 2025. The question remains: why isn’t there a feel-good factor? Inflation, economists maintain,…
Bridging the rural-urban divide
Pakistan’s socio-economic landscape is marred by a glaring rural-urban disparity, perpetuated by extractive policies that favor a privileged few. As highlighted in a recent op-ed and corroborated by the UNDP…
