Resource information
Poverty in Pakistan is overwhelmingly
rural. Some two-thirds of Pakistan's population, and
over 60 percent of the country's poor, live in rural
areas. In 2005, average per capita expenditures in rural
areas were 31 percent lower than in urban areas. This
inequality between urban and rural areas is re-enforced by
inequality within and between rural areas. Owing to uneven
access to land and useable water, most of the increased
income that results from agricultural production accrues to
higher income farmers-who typically spend a disproportionate
amount of their income on urban goods and services. This
inequality seriously limits the impacts of agricultural
growth on rural poverty, and is a major cause of sustained
poverty and low productivity among small farmers and rural
nonfarm households. It also points to the importance of
effectively targeting the poor in contexts in which
resources intended for them are likely to be captured by
more privileged groups.
