“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.” — Nelson Mandela

POVERTY is frequently cited as a cause of growing extremism, but proving it is not as easy as portrayed. While Pakistan’s ranking on the Human Development Index (HDI) and poverty index confirms that poverty is a contributing factor, internal strife and socioeconomic polarisation are also significant drivers. Poor states often attribute extremism to poverty and religious misinterpretation, but by focusing solely on these two factors, they may be avoiding the need to address the demand for fair distribution of resources, as well as ethnic, sectarian, so­­ciocultural, economic and political issues.

According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook 2024, Burkina Faso is ranked 16th among the world’s poorest countries and ranks first on the Global Terrorism Index. Pakistan is the 50th poorest country and ranks second on the GTI. Syria and Afghanistan rank high but have unstable political conditions, making economic assessment difficult. Mali (15th poorest) ranks fourth on the GTI; Niger (sixth poorest) is fifth; Nigeria (46th poorest) is sixth; Somalia (11th poorest) is seventh. Israel, ranked 157th among poor........

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