Deep gaps revealed in housing, livelihoods, health, education, despite higher provincial revenues
ISLAMABAD:
The government on Monday unveiled an “eye-opening” report revealing that human development mostly centred on Punjab, which has no districts classified as most vulnerable, in contrast to Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the provinces facing the highest levels of vulnerability and unemployment.
The report’s findings underscore that there was an urgent need to transfer the financial resources directly to the districts, as the current arrangement of strong control of the provincial capitals on the resources was increasing the share of the vulnerable population.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Climate Change Minister Dr Musadaq Malik launched the UK-funded District Vulnerability Index for Pakistan (DVIP). The report revealed that the most districts in the highest vulnerability quintile are in Balochistan, while the least vulnerable are in Punjab.
The findings put a question mark on the use of the trillions of rupees in additional financial resources that were given to the provinces under the Seventh National Finance Commission (NFC). All the provinces are cash-rich and investing their surplus cash in the federal government debt instead of spending on their people.
The report is based on six distinct domains of housing, communication, transport, livelihoods, access to health services, access to education and demographics. The index, developed by the Pakistan Population Council, measures the exposure of districts across Pakistan to social, economic, and environmental risks.
Even better-performing districts, the report notes, reveal systemic weaknesses nationwide. Dr Malik said that nearly 10 million or 11.3% Pakistanis live in the 20 most vulnerable districts. About 2 million of them are women of reproductive age and similar numbers are children under the age of 5. More than half of the most vulnerable population resides in Balochistan – more than 40% of the province’s population.
The deep study is aimed at addressing the gaps by developing an index that incorporates domains of vulnerability typically underreported in the analysis in Pakistan. The Index is built on the established social vulnerability indices, adapting their frameworks to Pakistan’s district-level context.
Among the 20 least vulnerable districts, 13 are in Punjab, four in Sindh, two in K-P and none in Balochistan. In contrast, the most vulnerable category includes two former FATA districts in K-P, only one in Sindh, none in Punjab and alarmingly 17 in Balochistan.
“With a 2.55% population growth rate, which is the highest in the region, the pressure is building on all the stakeholders to take decisive actions,” Dr Imtiaz Ahamd, the chief economist of Pakistan, said. He said the least vulnerable districts are those that are connected through the infrastructure with the rest of the country.
The five least vulnerable districts in the country are the four urban districts of Karachi, followed by Lahore. But the five most vulnerable districts include Washuk, Khuzdar, Kohlu and Zohb in Balochistan and Kohistan in K-P.
The most vulnerable districts are: Washuk, Khuzdar, Kohistan, Zhob, Kohlu, Musakhel, Dera Bugti, Killa Saifullah, Kalat, Tharparkar, Seerani, Jhal Magsi, Nasirabad, Chagai, Barkhan, Harani, Awaran, Kharan, North Waziristan and Panjgur.
“Even the best districts do not have a good standing and the worst part is that 17 out of the 20 most vulnerable districts are in Balochistan,” Dr Malik said.
The housing domain is based on the indicators of percentage of mud houses, no toilet facilities, poor drinking water sources and homes with only one room. In the 20 worst performing districts in the housing domain, over 65% of the population lives in make and shift structures, half lacks toilet facilities and 40% have no access to improved water facilities, according to the report.
Dr Malik highlighted the country’s widening inequalities in access to safe water, education, and secure housing, calling for urgent national attention.
“The report exposes a deeply uncomfortable truth about basic public services,” he said. “We have never truly asked why access to safe water remains so difficult. Clean water, education, and safe housing are not amenities but fundamental rights”, said the climate minister.
The transport domain is based on the average distance of villages to metal roads and to a transport facility. The report stated that many contiguous districts severely lack adequate access to roads, transport, or telephone services within reachable distances.
In the livelihood domain – based on the indicators of dependency on agriculture, unpaid family workers and unemployment ratio – 15 of the 20 lowest ranked districts are in Balochistan. K-P and Balochistan also have the highest unemployment rates and the largest proportions of unpaid family workers, reflecting fragile and precarious livelihoods.
What could be a reason for the highest vulnerability, both K-P and Balochistan are worst affected provinces by the war against terrorism.
Aurangzeb highlighted that the impacts of high population growth were reflected in persistent human development challenges, including child stunting, learning poverty, and a workforce insufficiently equipped for the future.
Climate change continues to expose communities to extreme temperatures, floods, droughts, and environmental degradation, with the most severe effects falling on districts already struggling with poverty, weak infrastructure, and limited access to essential services, said the finance minister.
The report stated that both K-P and Balochistan also stand out as more vulnerable in the access to health domain with lower accessibility of health facilities and limited doorstep community health outreach. There were also wide disparities in health access between districts of these two provinces.
The education domain is also based on distances from the education facilities. The report stated that Karachi stands out with the highest density of primary and higher secondary schools, though this may be due in part to its high population density.
The most vulnerable districts are concentrated in Balochistan where low school density and long travel distances are likely exacerbated by vulnerability in the transportation domain.
