ISLAMABAD: Almost forty-five per cent of Pakistan’s population lives below the poverty line, according to a World Bank report released on Thursday.

The finding, based on a survey conducted in 2018-19, comes in the wake of an update of global poverty lines made by the bank, and not because of any change in underlying economic conditions across the world.

The proportion of people living in extreme poverty has risen from 4.9pc to 16.5pc, according to the report.

The latest findings come in the wake of World Bank’s update of global poverty lines and not because of any change in the underlying economic conditions across the world.

Poverty assessments revised to reflect changes in cost of living and consumption habits

“For Pakistan, the poverty rate based on the new $3 international poverty line (IPL) under 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP) is 16.5Pc, compared to 4.9pc under the previous $2.15 line (2017 PPP),” said the World Bank.

About 82pc of this increase is due to the higher value of the new IPL, reflecting increases in the national poverty lines of comparator countries, with the rest explained by price increases in Pakistan between 2017 and 2021 reflected in the updated PPPs, it added.

“The poverty rate under the $4.20 IPL line rose from 39.8pc to 44.7pc” in Pakistan, the bank said. It added that the new IPL affected the level........

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