As many nations of the world are racing against time to achieve economic development, the specter of poverty still haunts many of them, including Pakistan. According to a report published by the World Bank showing the poverty and inequality statistics, the Gini coefficient for Pakistan has fallen. The Gini coefficient, Gini ratio or a normalized Gini index is a measure of statistical dispersion, which represent distribution of income and a commonly used measure of inequality of wealth in a nation. Another report by the United Nations titled ‘Multidimensional Poverty in Pakistan’ — covering fiscal year 2014-15–reveals alarming statics that 75.5 percent population in the rural area of Sindh lives below the poverty line. In contrast, at least 10.6 percent population of urban Sindh lives below the poverty line. Regardless to the reports from the world institutions, the situation is not different in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan where there is vast inequality between the population of the rural and urban areas. According to reports, inequalities between urban and rural areas further create complications as the poor in the rural areas will have little access to education, health and financial services. The urban population enjoys many facilities and have the ability to knock the doors of the government departments for the resolution of their problems.
To achieve efficiency and equity, the World Bank report calls for widening and broadening of the coverage of social spending. There is need to spend on development projects and education to minimize inequality among various segments of society. A concerted effort is required to enhance the coverage of financial services to the bottom 40 percent of the population while regular and non-regular workers need job security and legal protection.The income disparities not only prevail in the United States but all over the world. Asia is considered the powerhouse of growth for the global economy and is home to more than half of the world’s population. The projected growth in Asia-Pacific economies is 5.25 percentfor 2016-17 and inequality between various income groups is also increasing.
As a matter of fact, only trickledown effects can alleviate the lot of the poor and there is hardly another way to end inequality. Industrial development is key to generate jobs and increase gross domestic products of a country, but the government laws often create hindrances in the way of investment in this sector. Various government agencies are established to facilitate industrial sector, but those indulge in the jobs which are not assigned to them. In Pakistan’s case, electricity crisis, multiple and overlapping government laws and security are the issues which need to be resolved. Inequality will end when every individual is involved as a necessary component in the process of economic development.
