A single statement has been making the rounds on social media for several days now. The prime minister of Pakistan has said, “Anyone who makes over Rs 8,483 per month is not poor.” As would be expected, the line was greeted with a deluge of outrage, ridicule, and memes. However, the claim is based on a misconception. It is not the prime minister’s choice of this number, nor is a poverty line predetermined by any ruler’s signature. It is a measure of statistics, not a statement of politics.

The actual source is the poverty line figure of Rs 8,484 adult equivalent monthly per capita in 2025 as per the Pakistan Economic Survey. That figure was taken out of context; “per person” was interpreted as “per household,” and a statistical threshold was set to a prime ministerial verdict. Three mistakes and one viral post.

The poverty line is a level of consumption that is insufficient for a person to meet the basic requirements of life, including food, housing, clothing, education, health, and transport. Each country has a different line based on its price levels, the level of consumption, and its standard of living. There is no single specific number that can be used all over the world as an indicator of “poor.”

This is where things get lost in debate. In Pakistan, the poverty line does not exist as a decision taken by the prime minister or finance minister sitting and deciding on it. It is clear and formulated through an institutional chain. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has the responsibility of conducting the household surveys and providing the data. The estimation is carried out by the Ministry of Planning (MoP) using a Technical Committee on Poverty, which includes PBS. The Economic Survey merely publishes the result, and this number is not the whim of anybody but a settled statistical method.

The Rs 8,484 figure is approximately on a per-person basis per........

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