South Asia Investor Review

Over 75% of the world's poor deprived of basic living standards (nutrition, cooking fuel, sanitation and housing) live in India compared to 4.6% in Bangladesh and 4.1% in Pakistan, according to a recently released OPHI/UNDP report on multidimensional poverty.  Here's what the report says: "More than 45.5 million poor people are deprived in only these four indicators (nutrition, cooking fuel, sanitation and housing). Of those people, 34.4 million live in India, 2.1 million in Bangladesh and 1.9 million in Pakistan—making this a predominantly South Asian profile".  Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2022. Source: OPHI/UNDP Income Poverty in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Source: Our World in Data The  UNDP poverty report  shows that the income poverty (people living on $1.90 or less per day) in Pakistan is 3.6% while it is 22.5% in India and 14.3% in Bangladesh. In terms of the population vulnerable to multidimensional poverty, Pakistan (12.9%) does better than Ban...

The share of national income of Pakistan's poorest 20% of households has increased from 8.1% to 9.6% since 1990 , according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (NESCAP)  Statistical Yearbook for 2015 .  It's the highest share of income for the bottom income quintile in the region. Income Share Change in Asia's Poorest Quintile:  The countries where people in the poorest income quintile have increased their share of total income include Kyrgyzstan (from 2.5 per cent to 7.7), the Russian Federation (4.4 per cent to 6.5), Kazakhstan (7.5 per cent to 9.5) and Pakistan (8.1 per cent to 9.6).  India's bottom income quintile has seen its share of income drop from 9% to 7.8%. Bottom Quintile Income Share Change. Source: UNESCAP Statistical Yearbook Although more people in China have lifted themselves out of poverty than any other country in the world, the poorest quintile in that country now accounts for a lower percentage of ...

A November 2016 World Bank report says that Pakistan has successfully translated economic growth into the  well-being  of its poorest citizens. It says "Pakistan’s recent growth has been accompanied by a staggering fall in poverty". Rising incomes of the poorest 20% in Pakistan since 2002 have enabled them to enhance their living standards by improving their diets and acquiring television sets, refrigerators, motorcycles, flush toilets, and better housing. Another recent report titled  "From Wealth to Well Being"  by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) also found that Pakistan does better than India and China in translating GDP growth to citizens' well-being. One particular metric BCG report uses is growth-to-well-being coefficient on which Pakistan scores 0.87, higher than  India's 0.77  and China's 0.75. Big Poverty Decline Since 2002: Using the old national poverty line of $1.90 ( ICP 2011 PPP ) , set in 2001, the percentage of people living in po...