I was invited to a seminar at University of Punjab on June 20, 2025, titled, “Glass half full or half empty: Understanding social and political transformation in Pakistan through data”.

The guest speaker was Mr. Bilal Geelani, Executive Director of Gallup Pakistan. I had a mixed feeling after listening to Mr. Geelani who successfully showcased ‘glass half full’ with the help of data spanning last 25 years. Data is a collection of facts, opinions, figures, trends, numbers and patterns. To be data driven is generally considered good for the stakeholders to analyze the situation at hand. However, it is individual’s perspective which shapes conclusions from the data under consideration. The very first striking slide was the population growth from 1947 when we started our journey with 33 million and now being 240 million suggests that the country progressed significantly to fulfil requirements of such a huge population. But the fact which surprised me the most was the detail about life expectancy in Pakistan which was 44 years in the 1960s and now it is 67 years with an exception of 74 years in the capital city of Islamabad.

This improvement in the life expectancy indicates significant development in social and personal life domains. Because, life expectancy doesn’t improve with healthy intakes only, several other factors such as job opportunities, stress management, smoking patterns, health facilities and so on equally contribute to it. This improvement in life expectancy suggests advancement in several sectors.........

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