Deep gaps revealed in housing, livelihoods, health and education, despite higher provincial incomes
ISLAMABAD:
The government on Monday released a “revealing” report revealing that human development was mainly focused on Punjab, which has no districts classified as most vulnerable, unlike Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the provinces facing the highest levels of vulnerability and unemployment.
The report’s findings underline that there was an urgent need to transfer financial resources directly to districts, as the current arrangement of strong control by provincial capitals over resources was increasing the proportion of the vulnerable population.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Climate Change Minister Dr Musadaq Malik launched the UK-funded District Vulnerability Index of Pakistan (DVIP). The report revealed that most of the districts in the most vulnerable quintile are in Balochistan, while the least vulnerable are in Punjab.
The findings call into question the use of trillions of rupees in additional financial resources that were given to provinces under the Seventh National Finance Commission (NFC). All provinces are cash rich and invest their surplus in federal government debt instead of spending it on their people.
The report is based on six different areas: housing, communications, transportation, livelihoods, access to health services, access to education and demographics. The index, developed by the Pakistan Population Council, measures the exposure of Pakistan’s districts to social, economic and environmental risks.
Even the best-performing districts, the report notes, reveal systemic weaknesses across the country. Dr Malik said 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 a similar number are children under five years old. More than half of the most vulnerable population resides in Balochistan: more than 40% of the province’s population.
The in-depth study aims to address the gaps by developing an index that incorporates domains of vulnerability that are not typically reported in analysis in Pakistan. The Index is based on established social vulnerability indices, adapting its frameworks to the district-level context of Pakistan.
Among the 20 least vulnerable districts, 13 are in Punjab, four in Sindh, two in KP and none in Balochistan. In contrast, the most vulnerable category includes two former FATA districts in KP, only one in Sindh, none in Punjab and, alarmingly, 17 in Balochistan.
“With a population growth rate of 2.55%, which is the highest in the region, pressure is mounting on all stakeholders to take decisive action,” said Dr. Imtiaz Ahamd, Pakistan’s chief economist. He said that the least vulnerable districts are those that are connected through infrastructure to 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 KP.
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 reputation and the worst thing is that 17 of the 20 most vulnerable districts are in Balochistan,” Dr Malik said.
The housing area is based on the indicators of the percentage of adobe houses, without sanitary facilities, poor drinking water sources and houses with only one room. According to the report, in the 20 districts with the worst housing results, more than 65% of the population lives in fixed and shifting structures, half lack sanitation facilities and 40% do not have access to improved water facilities, according to the report.
Dr. Malik highlighted the country’s growing inequalities in access to clean water, education and safe housing, and called for urgent national attention.
“The report exposes a deeply uncomfortable truth about basic public services,” he said. “We have never really asked ourselves why access to drinking water remains so difficult. Drinking water, education and safe housing are not amenities but fundamental rights,” said the Climate Minister.
The transportation domain is based on the average distance of villages to metal roads and a transportation facility. The report states that many adjoining districts severely lack adequate access to roads, transportation or telephone services within accessible distances.
In the area of livelihood – based on indicators of dependency on agriculture, unpaid family workers and unemployment rate – 15 of the 20 worst-ranked districts are in Balochistan. KP and Balochistan also have the highest unemployment rates and the highest proportions of unpaid family workers, reflecting fragile and precarious livelihoods.
Which could be a reason for the increased vulnerability, both KP and Balochistan are the provinces most affected by the war on terror.
Aurangzeb highlighted that the impacts of high population growth were reflected in persistent challenges to human development, including child stunting, learning poverty and a workforce insufficiently equipped for the future.
Climate change continues to expose communities to extreme temperatures, flooding, drought and environmental degradation, with the most serious effects falling on districts already struggling with poverty, weak infrastructure and limited access to essential services, the Finance Minister said.
The report states that both KP and Balochistan also stand out as more vulnerable in the area of health access, with lower accessibility to health facilities and limited reach of home-based community health. There were also large disparities in access to health between the districts of these two provinces.
Educational scope is also based on distances from educational facilities. The report states that Karachi stands out as having the highest density of primary and senior secondary schools, although this may be partly due 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 transportation vulnerability.
