Out of 188 countries and territories in the world, Pakistan ranked 147th in the Human Development Index and out of 155 countries it is at 121st in terms of its Gender Inequality Index .Only 19.3 percent females reach the secondary school level against 46.1 percent of males. The women’s share in the labour market is 24.6 percent compared to 82.9 percent for men. Pakistan, despite all efforts, is still in the list of middle income countries with a growing gap between haves and have-nots. According to a study released by the International Food Policy Research Institute, the global economic outlook is deteriorating and is threatening the projection of the United Nations to see the world poverty-free by 2030. The economists studied the changes in projected growth rates not only in the United States and Europe but also in China and other developing countries. According to UN Sustainable Development Goal, the extreme poverty rate was projected at 4.8 percent in next 15 years, but the current level of growth indicates it will hover around 5.2 percent, showing that 38 million people in the world would still live on less than $1.90 a day. This is the benchmark of extreme poverty for the 2030.
Many countries have improved their economic conditions and have invested in the human development. In Pakistan, the health and education sectors have been neglected over the years by every successive government. The health and education remained the least priority of every government whether it was dictatorship or a so-called democracy. All the business and trade activities are the product of individual efforts as the government always creates hurdles rather than acting as a facilitator. The poorest countries in this region have started revolutionary programmes and have curtailed the poverty in their domains. On another note, poverty in Pakistan is increasing thanks to inconsistent policies, political instability, financial mismanagement and corruption. The study of the international institution says that economic downturn is a hurdle in the way of the effort to fight extreme poverty. However, robust economic growth has helped reduce poverty in some developing nations. There are economic shocks, terrorism and a large scale migration affecting the struggles to eliminate poverty from the world. The situation further complicates in view of instability in the global economic environment, government laws and trade restrictions. According to the study, a large number of population in various countries will continue to suffer extreme poverty until 2030.
Pakistan is facing various challenges to its economy, including energy crisis, political instability, terrorism and expensive hostility with neighbouring country India. However, the positive side of the situation is that the government can overcome these kinds of challenges if prudent policies are adopted to increase industrial production. This will improve living standard of the people in the country.
