Socio-economic profile of Pakistan (Part I)

Socio economic profiles of countries are usually correlated to the level of economic progress that has happened in that country. A richer country tends to spend more on the development sector and as such the indicators of health and education for eg tend to improve. As such, it is important that when Pakistan’s development indicators are analyzed, they should be compared with countries having the same income profiles. Per capita GDP is taken as a measure for countries to gauge the income level of the country as an entity in itself. However, GDP is composed of the the sum of goods and services produced in the country at market prices (or alternatively factor costs). As such, the GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Parity terms should be taken when comparing different countries so that if a basket of goods produced in one country is cheaper than the other, the effect on GDOP for the same is neutralized.

Pakistan’s per capita GDP (PPP) is roughly $ 2,800. If we take similar income profile countries, we would have a sample consisting of the following countries, whose per capita gdp on a purchasing power parity basis are as follows:

	Similar income profile countries
	Pakistan	Sudan	Ghana	Laos	Nigeria
Gdp per capita (ppp) $	2787	2726	3083	2659	2578

I will now be worthwhile to compare the different key development indicators of Pakistan with these countries so that we know in which sectors we are better and worse off than them.

EDUCATION SECTOR

Literacy Rate

Pakistan’s literacy rates are a serious issue.  When compared with other countries of similar income profiles, it is THE lowest. 

	Similar income profile countries
	Pakistan	Sudan	Ghana	Laos	Nigeria
Literacy rates	58%	70%	72%	73%	67%

While Pakistan’s literacy rate is 58%, the same of other countries are at least 10% higher, For example, the literacy level of Nigeria is 67% as compared to Pakistan’s 58%. Similarly, African nations such as Sudan and Ghana have literacy rates in excess of 70% although the perception of the development levels of these countries are far lower than that of Pakistan.

Net Primary Enrollment Rate (NPER)

	Similar income profile countries
	Pakistan	Sudan	Ghana	Laos	Nigeria
Net primary enrollment rates	65%	67%	76%	82%	63%

Literacy Rates amongst other things are a result of Net primary enrollment rates of a country. If we look at the corresponding net primary enrollment rates, Pakistan’s NPER of 65% is around about the same as Sudan and Nigeria. This means that although Pakistan’s literacy rate will constantly be increasing in the future, we are going to be nowhere close to obtaining 100% literacy at any time in the near future. Only if we can achieve one of United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals of Universal Primary Education will we be able to obtain cent percent literacy.

However, if we compare the literacy rate and the NPER of Pakistan with some of the regional countries, then Pakistan appears to be far behind.

	Regional countries
	Bangladesh	India	Srilanka
Gdp per capita (ppp) $	1693	3694	5674
Literacy rates	56%	76%	94%
Net primary enrollment rates	89%	97%	95%

With the exception of Bangladesh, Pakistan’s literacy rate of 58% is a lot poorer than other regional countries such as India and Sri Lanka. But the good thing going for Bangladesh is that they have a nigh NPER so in future if they can maintain this rate, they will be able to have a high literacy rate. That unfortunately is not the case for Pakistan.

Internet Penetration %

A very important indicator that is now considered as part of the education sector is the internet penetration %.  This is an area where Pakistan seems to have a huge penetration % which is a positive. Although the below figures are taken from Unicef publications, there seems to be some disparity among this figure and the figures of 10-12% that have been floating around from other sources. Nonetheless, this number is a huge positive. This shows that the educated sections of Pakistani society are getting assimilated into the online community faster than some of the other comparative countries.

	Similar Income profile countries					Regional countries
	Pakistan	Sudan	Ghana	Laos	Nigeria	Bangladesh	India	Srilanka
Gdp per capita (ppp) $	2787	2726	3083	2659	2578	1693	3694	5674
Internet users	17%	na	9%	7%	28%	4%	8%	12%