Socio-economic profile of Pakistan (Part III)

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ECONOMIC SECTOR
Poverty %
The % below poverty line in Pakistan is actually much less as compared to other countries as per Unicef figures below.


Similar income profile countries
Regional countries

Pak.
Sudan
Ghana
Laos
Nigeria
BD
India
Srilanka
Gdp per capita (ppp) $
2787
2726
3083
2659
2578
1693
3694
5674
% below poverty line
23%
47%
30%
34%
64%
50%
42%
7%
Internet users
17%
0
9%
7%
28%
4%
8%
12%


Gini’s Coefficient
As mentioned in earlier sections the report, the Gini’s coefficient is an indicator of the level of inequality in the society. Again surprisingly, similar to the poverty level%, the gini coefficient of Pakistan (as per CIA published figures) is amongst the best when compared to either the similar income countries or the regional economies.
The worst in this list are Nigeria, Sudan and Srilanka where the Gini’s coefficient is between 0.44 and 0.49

Similar income profile countries
Regional countries

Pak
Sudan
Ghana
Laos
Nigeria
BD
India
Srilanka
Gdp per capita (ppp) $
2787
2726
3083
2659
2578
1693
3694
5674
Gini
 0.32
0.46
  0.39
0.37
   0.44
 0.33
0.37
    0.49

CONCLUSION
The following are major points that could conclude this report on the review of the development indicators of Pakistan
Overall Pakistan is faring poorly with respect to key development indicators when compared with Regional countries and when compared with countries with similar income profiles. Although Pakistan’s economic development indicators such as poverty % and Gini’s coefficient are better than all countries that it has been compared to, this betterment does not seem to be translating into good education and health related development indicators.
In such a situation the primary blame falls onto the government’s policies with respect to the Health and Education sector. The expenditures on Health and Education in Pakistan are very low as indicated by the table below.
For health , none of the countries spend lower than Pakistan as a % of total expenditure, with the exception of Sudan no other country spends as less on education as % of totl expenditure as Pakistan
 
Therefore, Pakistan needs to immediately adjust its priority which should first reflect in the amount of budget that is allocated and utilized for health and education if it truly wants to build a prosperous society.

Similar income profile countries
Regional countries

Pak
Sudan
Ghana
Laos
Nigeria
BD
India
Srilanka
Gdp per capita (ppp) $
2787
2726
3083
2659
2578
1693
3694
5674
Education as % of total expend.
2.0%
1.0%
22.0%
na
na
14.0%
3.0%
10.0%
health as % of total expendit.
1%
8%
7%
na
na
6%
2%
6%


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