The World Bank has reported that Pakistan accounts for nearly half of the people living in extreme poverty across the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAAP) region.
According to the World Bank’s October 2026 economic update, around 48 percent of people living below the $3-a-day poverty line in the region are in Pakistan. The bank also reported that Pakistan’s poverty rate increased by 6.4 percentage points at the $3-a-day threshold between fiscal years 2018-19 and 2024-25, while poverty at the $4.20-a-day line rose by 3.2 percentage points over the same period.
The World Bank attributed the increase in poverty to several economic and environmental shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastating 2022 floods, high inflation, currency depreciation and prolonged economic adjustment.
These factors weakened household incomes and employment opportunities, contributing to a deterioration in living standards across the country.
The World Bank’s findings come after Pakistan was moved from the South Asia reporting region to the MENAAP region. While the regional classification changes the composition of aggregate poverty figures, the bank’s country-level assessment measures changes in poverty within Pakistan over time.
