Pakistan's HDI value stays at medium group.

• Author: Kazmi, S. Kamal Haider
• Position: Human Development Index

Byline: S. KAMAL HAYDER KAZMI

According to UNDP's Human Development Report 2020, Pakistan's HDI value for 2019 stayed at 0.557, which put the country in the 'medium' category. Statistics showed that Pakistan ranked at 154 out of 189 countries in the index based on Health (life expectancy at birth), Education (expected years of schooling) and Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.

Between 1990-2019, Pakistan's HDI value grew from 0.402 to 0.557, a rise of 38.6 percent which is considerably less than the rise attained through Bangladesh (59 percent) and India (52 percent). Pakistan's life expectancy at birth grew by 7.2 years, mean years of schooling grew by 2.9 years and expected years of schooling increased by 3.7 years respectively. Pakistan's GNI per capita increased by 64.1 percent. From South Asia, the country is compared with Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India which have HDIs ranks of 133, 169 and 131 respectively.

Pakistan has shown some progress in human development indicators over the years, raising it to the Medium Human Development category yet, this progress is slower than all other South Asian countries except Afghanistan. According to the World Bank prediction, Pakistan's poverty rate to ease from 4.8 percent to 4.4 percent in FY 2021-22 and 4 percent in FY2023. The World Bank has set the extreme poverty line at $1.9 per person per day, however, since 2017, the World Bank has also been reporting poverty rates for all the countries using two new international poverty lines, a lower middle-income International Poverty Line, set at $3.20 per day, and an upper middle-income International Poverty Line, set at $5.50 per day.

According to a recent report released by the Bank, Pakistan's lower middle-income poverty rate would also fall from the current 37 percent to 35.7 percent in FY22 and 33.8 percent in FY 2022-23. Similarly, the upper middle-income poverty rate has also been projected to ease from 77 percent to 76.2 percent in FY22 and 75 percent in the next fiscal year. In comparison, the poverty rate in other regional countries is much higher than that in Pakistan.

The World Bank report titled "Shifting Gears: Digitization and Services-Led...