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Table of Contents:
•Effects of Poverty
•Poverty in Pakistan
•Causes of Poverty in
Pakistan
•Poverty Reduction
• Poverty & Types
• Poverty Line
• Characteristics
of Poverty.
5. What is Poverty
Poverty is about not having enough money to
meet basic needs including food, clothing and
shelter. However, poverty is more, much more
than just not having enough money. The World
Bank Organization describes poverty in this
way: “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of
shelter.
Reference: Wikipedia
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Statistically, as of 2019, most of the world's population live in poverty:
Two-thirds live on less than $10 per day, and 10% live on less than $1.90 per
day (extreme poverty). According to the World Bank Group in 2020, more
than 40% of the poor live in conflict-affected countries.
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Types of Poverty
• Situational poverty
• Generational poverty
• Absolute poverty
• Relative poverty
• Urban poverty
• Rural poverty
Reference: Article University of Mississippi.
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Poverty Line
• Poverty line is the minimum level of income needed to have basic necessities of Life
• Poverty line is significantly higher in developed countries rather than in developing
countries.
• In October 2015, the World Bank updated the International Poverty Line (IPL), a
global absolute minimum, to $1.90 per day where it currently stands (as of
2022) and also as of 2022, $3.20 per day in (PPP) for lower-middle income
countries, and $5.50 per day in (PPP) for upper-middle income countries. Per the
$1.90/day standard, the percentage of the global population living in absolute
poverty fell from over 80% in 1800 to 10% by 2015, according to United
nations estimates, which found roughly 734 million people remained in absolute
poverty.
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Characteristics of Poverty
(South Asian Countries for Example)
Low level of income
Poor people usually look assets as well as
in urban area. In rural areas, they own
small area of low or unproductive land
without irrigation and other physical
facilities. They lack income and access to
credit and unable to improve their land
productivity.
Bad Housing Condition
The housing condition of a majority of the
Nepal people is very bad. Due to large
family size, there is always overcrowded in
households. All the family members have
to live in a small mud hut with limited
space, a single room house and without
electricity and other physical facilities.
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Characteristics of Poverty
Literacy
The majority of poor people is generally
illiterate, a high illiterate rate is either due
to ignorance or poverty or both. The
national literacy rate of Pakistan is 62%,
and Nepal is 65% while the literacy among
the poor is far below than the national
average.
Occupation
The occupation of the poor is generally
agriculture in rural and physical labor in
urban areas. Many poor people even do
not have their own land and other
employs them as agriculture labor.
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Characteristics of Poverty
Lack of access to state facilities
A majority of poor people of Pakistan are
living in rural areas and government
expenditure pattern is concentrated in
favor of urban sectors or to the rich.
Therefore, the rural people cannot enjoy
the benefits from the facilities provided by
the government.
High Expenditure Pattern
In Pakistan, the majority of poor spend
more than 70% of their income in
consumption. They spend almost all of
their income on food in order to survive.
Sometimes, they consume more than
what their income is.
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Characteristics of Poverty
High growth rate of population and
low economic growth rate
Various factors such as economic,
historical, social, politician, etc are
responsible for growing poverty in
Pakistan. In Pakistan, the growth rate of
population is very high as compared to the
economic growth rate. This fails to bring
about the required improvement in the
living standard of the people.
Unemployment
The next important cause of poverty is
unemployment. In developing countries
like Pakistan, there is no development of
employment providing sectors. There is a
lack of employment opportunities which is
the great problem of poverty.
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Characteristics of Poverty
Low Industrial Development
The industry is the most important sector
that provides employment to mass
people. But, the growth of industrial
development in developing country like
Pakistan is very low due to lack of capital,
infrastructure, modern technology and
appropriate industry policy.
Socio-cultural Factors
In Pakistan, people are poor due to the
prevalent socio-cultural institutions. In
order to fulfill socio-obligations and their
traditional religious ceremonies (from
cradle to grave) people spend
extravagantly.
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Characteristics of Poverty
Old Technology
Old technology is also one of the causes of
growing poverty in Pakistan. Not only the
manufacturing sector is still employing old
technology but also, the agricultural
production techniques are far below the
standards of developed economies.
Regional Disparity
The extent of poverty is also different in
each region because of diversified
geographical conditions of Pakistan. The
life pattern in mountains and hills are
more difficult than in the Terai due to lack
of infrastructure facilities, low
productivity, etc.
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Characteristics of Poverty
Under utilization of resources
Another cause of poverty is under utilization of resources in an
underdeveloped country like Pakistan. Even though Pakistan is rich
in various natural resources like water, forest and minerals due to
under utilization of such resources Pakistan is facing poverty line.
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Effects of Poverty
Poverty affects the life of a poor family. A poor person is not able to take
proper food & nutrition &his capacity to work reduces. Reduced capacity to
work further reduces his income, making him poorer. Children from poor
family never get proper schooling & proper nutrition.
They have to work to support their family & this destroys their childhood.
Some of them may also involve in crimes like theft, murder, robbery, etc.
A poor person remains uneducated & is forced to live under unhygienic
conditions in slums. There are no proper sanitation & drinking water facility
in slums & he falls ill often & his health deteriorates. A poor person
generally dies an early death. So, all social evils are related to poverty.
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Poverty In Pakistan
Over the past two decades, Pakistan has made significant progress in fighting
poverty, reducing it by more than half since 2000. As one of the first countries in
the world to declare Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of its national
development agenda and updating the national poverty line in 2016. Pakistan has
remained committed to improving multi-dimensional poverty measures.
As per the latest official statistics, poverty declined from 29.5% in 2013-14 to
24.3% in 2015-16. Of all 114 countries for which the World Bank measures poverty
indices, Pakistan was amongst the top 15 that showed the largest annual average
percentage point decline between 2000 and 2015. Despite this, by 2015, around
50 million people still lived below the national poverty line. Since then, the pace of
poverty reduction has slowed down. This is partly due to the macroeconomic crisis
resulting from structural economic issues and the lack and inadequate
implementation of pro-poor policies. There are many factors to contribute this
high poverty rate.
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18. Causes of Poverty in Pakistan
• Lack of Clean Water and
Nutritious Food
• Inequality
• Poor Education
• Unemployment
• Conflicts / Warfare
• Lack of Infrastructure
• Natural Disasters or Climate
Changes
• Corruption
• Lack of government support
• Lack of reserves
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Solution to cut poverty
• Firstly, rapid implementation of sustained economic growth policies and programs are needed in different sectors such as health,
education, nutrition, and sanitation. This implementation brings the literacy rate upward and could reduce unemployment and poverty in
society. Likewise high quality in health helps low-income children build the foundation for skills which results in better education, jobs, and
earnings which allows the poor to contribute to economic growth.
• The government should improve macroeconomic conditions among countries such as lower inflation, lower taxes for lower-income groups,
and positive economic growth.
• Most people are engaged in the agriculture sector, so government should provide equal access to resources to farmers such as agriculture
loans, incentives, and technological facilities. By improving agricultural research and extension systems, adopting of latest agriculture
technologies and inputs, enhancing good quality seed production, improving irrigation water management results in high productivity.
• The federal government should invest in job creation strategies such as the development of energy resources, rebuild infrastructure, and
renovating abandoned housing. This results in better infrastructure, many employment opportunities and boosts our economy
• Trade is the way to the growth and development of a country. Another way to reduce poverty is to encourage countries to engage in trade.
Countries tend to grow faster, innovative and providing more opportunities to their people. Apart from that open trade also benefits poor
income groups to buy products at affordable prices. Most of the poor countries have traded to get out of poverty.
• The government should provide their citizens equal access to resources, income, and services that raise economic growth.
• We must learn more about how to help our communities to cope with natural disasters, innovation and training in different sectors, focus
on research and development.
• Effective law should be enforced by the government to ensure the corrupt are punished.
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