According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2017-18, one-fourth of the population (over 50 million people) lives below the poverty line, while 38.8% are multidimensionally poor in terms of education, health, and living standards.
Recently, the World Bank estimated that poverty in Pakistan has increased from 4.4 % to 5.4 % in 2020, as over two million people have fallen below the poverty line. Apart from having limited access to education, health, and other socio-economic services, underprivileged families often have limited financial resources to use these services. A majority of these people live in rural areas and are employed in the agricultural sector.
However, the government of Pakistan is making efforts to end poverty in all formats and dimensions by 2030 under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Implementing a nationally-adequate social protection system is the key proposed intervention to achieve this goal.
These social protection programs are a useful tool for alleviating poverty. They include conditional and unconditional cash transfers, food rations, public works programs, and school feeding. The Government’s vision for social protection programs is to develop an integrated and comprehensive platform focused on the needs of the poorest and underprivileged ones.
Pakistan has made substantial progress in introducing social protection programs, including, Benazir Income Support Program, Ehsaas Program, the food subsidy package, Kamyab Pakistan, and the Sehat Sahulat card.
These programs focus on expanding and strengthening the national social safety net for the poor to enhance their human capital and access to basic life-sustaining services. These projects have proved remarkable progress in poverty reduction during the pandemic.
Furthermore, Pakistan is opening numerous opportunities to strengthen further its social protection program to alleviate poverty. Like, the program aims to increase poor families’ income at the household level, allowing for investments in education for children and economic opportunities for parents. Investment in establishing social protection systems will foster greater efficiencies, allowing Pakistan to do more with limited resources.
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