This report presents Pakistan's first official national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and was published by the Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform in Pakistan in collaboration with OPHI to provide evidence and a basis for public policy and resource allocations, especially under the National Finance Commission and the Provincial Finance Commission.

Based on data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey for 2014/15, the report provides estimates of multidimensional poverty at the national, provincial and district levels and includes a trend analysis spanning 2004-2015. It establishes a baseline for Pakistan's Vision 2025 and the SDGs. 

• Citation: Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform (2016). Multidimensional Poverty in Pakistan. 

Poverty Cut-Off: A person is considered poor if they are deprived in a third or more of the 15 weighted indicators.  

The annual global MPI produced by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative in partnership with the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme is an internationally comparable index of acute multidimensional poverty. OPHI publishes Country Briefings summarising poverty statistics of the global MPI for each country.     

Visit the most recent Global MPI Country Briefing for Pakistan based on DHS year 2017-2018.   

Official institution responsible for statistics  

• Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives

Events:  

• 20 June 2016 | Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal - Report Launch on Multidimensional Poverty in Pakistan
• 23 September 2022 | Intervention by H.E. Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives at UNGA 77 Side Event 
• 23 September 2021 | Intervention by H.E. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant of Pakistan’s Prime Minister and Federal Minister, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Ministry at UNGA 76 Side Event
• 24 September 2020 | Intervention by co-host H.E. Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan at UNGA 75 Side Event 
• 24 September 2020 | Intervention by H.E. Sania Nishtar, Minister of Poverty Alleviation, Pakistan at UNGA 75 Side Event
• 25 September 2019 | Intervention by H.E. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Pakistan at UNGA 74 Side Event

Dimensions articles:  

• The Insights From a Comparable Child Poverty Measurement: The Case of South Asia | MPPN

Press Releases/News:  

• 22 April 2014 | Pakistan signs agreement to develop a national Multidimensional Poverty Index
• 20 June 2016 | Pakistan’s new poverty index reveals that 4 out 10 of Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty