In just three years, poverty in Pakistan has almost doubled. According to the World Bank, using the poverty threshold of $3.2 (Rs900) per day for lower-middle-income countries, 39.2 per cent of the country’s population is living in poverty in FY2024-25.

In September 2021, a little over three years ago, the then-government had said that 22 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line – which means that in three years the percentage of people living in poverty increased by over 78 per cent.

And there is considerable anecdotal evidence to suggest this — in the past three years, prices of several essential items used by a large chunk of the population have significantly increased. For instance, the price of electricity in Pakistan since 2021 has increased by around 150 per cent which is a staggering increase. Since most households in the country use electricity, the proportion of monthly expenditure spent on electricity is far higher for low-income and even middle-income households than for those in the upper-income bracket.

This means that a rise in the cost of electricity is going to impact those with low and middle incomes far more than those who earn more – and hence it has the potential to push a large chunk of the population that may be surviving just above poverty below........

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