Poverty in Pakistan 1984-1985

Poverty analysis on Pakistan is an area of research which has generated papers from various authors such as Naseem (1973, 1977); Alauddin (1975); Mujahid (1978); Wasay (1977) and de Kruijk and van Leeuwen (1985). However, due to the different units of measurement and counting units, the results of these studies are not comparable. Moreover, the poverty profiles developed in the past were restricted to the geographical areas only because the authors had to work with the published household data. This paper will extend the analysis to most of the discriminating socioeconomic attributes of households which are available by using primary survey data on households and heads of households. In short, this paper will serve a dual purpose. Firstly, it will illustrate by way of comparison to what extent various methodologies, using different counting units and units of measurement affect the degree of poverty. Secondly, it will determine poverty profiles by socio-economic attributes of the households and the heads of the households in Pakistan