Poverty in Pakistan and South Asia

In the current era of globalization, the debate on poverty has assumed far greater importance in light of the widening gap in per capita income between the developed and developing countries. This has led to increased efforts at the international level to alleviate poverty and improve the economic welfare of the poorer regions of the world. These include the adoption of the “Millennium Development Goals” by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2000, ¹ and a greater emphasis on poverty reduction in the lending programs of the multilateral aid agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the World Development Report 2000–2001, almost half of the world’s population—2.8 billion out of 6 billion—live on less than $2 a day, while one-fifth—1.2 billion—live on less than $1 a day, with 44 percent of them living in South Asia. While South Asia accounts for 44 percent of the world’s poor, its share in the global population amounts to half of that, 22 percent. What is poverty and how is it measured? Has poverty increased in South Asia as a result of globalization marked by the adoption of more open and liberal trade regimes by the economies of the region? Have the World Bank/IMF-sponsored structural adjustment programs helped in alleviating or increasing poverty in the region? These are some of the questions I will attempt to answer in this chapter. While examining poverty in the South Asian region, the analysis in this chapter has a special focus on Pakistan.