Poverty Incidence Reaches 43.5% with Disproportionate Rise in Urban Areas

In Pakistan, the official poverty estimates are provided by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the Planning Commission using household consumption data from the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES). The latest official estimates, based on the HIES 2024-25, indicate that 28.9% of the country’s population is poor. In contrast, the estimates from the Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) present a more alarming picture, suggesting a poverty incidence of 43.5%. This difference arises from the methodology discussed in the subsequent paragraphs. This policy brief summarizes the findings of SPDC’s research report entitled Empirical Evidence of Upsurge in the Poverty Numbers: Pakistan, 2025 Scenario.