Pakistan Reports 28.9 Percent Poverty Rate for 2024-25, Highest in Over a Decade

Pakistan's official poverty line stands at 8,484 Pakistani rupees per month for a single adult, equivalent to approximately 3.50 dollars per day in 2021 purchasing power parity terms. The 2024-25 Household Integrated Economic Survey places 28.9 percent of the population, or about 70 million people, below this threshold.

This marks the highest poverty rate recorded in 11 years and represents an increase from 21.9 percent in the 2018-19 period. The cost of basic needs approach underpins the official calculation.

Separate World Bank figures from June 2025, drawn from earlier survey data, show 44.7 percent of Pakistanis living below the 4.20 dollars per day lower-middle-income poverty line. Additionally, 16.5 percent fall below the 3 dollars extreme poverty line.

The 2026-27 federal budget totals 18.77 trillion rupees. Defence receives an allocation of 3 trillion rupees, an increase of 17.65 percent from the previous year and the largest amount in the country's history. This represents 2.08 percent of gross domestic product, or roughly 10.8 billion dollars.

Military physical assets see a nearly 40 percent rise to 925.83 billion rupees. Military pensions total 822 billion rupees, while the Armed Forces Development Programme receives 319 billion rupees. The Benazir Income Support Programme, a key social safety net, is allocated 838 billion rupees in the same budget.