Provincial Breakdown: No Province Spared
Fig-2 of the official dataset shows poverty rising in every province:
| Province | 2018-19 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab | 16.5% | 23.3% |
| Sindh | 24.5% | 32.6% |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 28.7% | 35.3% |
| Balochistan | 41.8% | 47.0% |
Balochistan approaching nearly half its population in poverty is not merely a statistic; it is a governance alarm. Punjab’s jump from 16.5% to 23.3% shows economic slowdown penetrating the industrial core. Sindh and KP follow the same upward trajectory.
This uniformity of deterioration suggests systemic weakness, not provincial mismanagement alone.
Inequality Has Worsened Too
The Gini coefficient — which measures inequality — has also increased nationally and provincially.
National Gini moved from 28.4 to 32.7. Urban inequality rose to 34.4. Rural inequality climbed to 29.2.
Provincial inequality data (Fig-4):
| Province | 2018-19 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab | 28.4 | 32.0 |
| Sindh | 29.7 | 35.9 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 24.8 | 29.4 |
| Balochistan | 21.0 | 26.5 |
Higher Gini means wealth concentration intensifies while the lower tiers fall further behind. Poverty rising alongside inequality is the worst combination for social cohesion.
