Social, living standards acrossmost provinces abysmally poor

Social, living standards acrossmost provinces abysmally poor
National
Mehtab Haider
Most districts of Balochistan, Sindh, KP, southern Punjab show poor standards; surveyfinds 16pc households facing food insecurity; literacy rate for 10-year olds, above stagnantat 60pc since 2014-15
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Social andLiving Standard Measurement(PSLM) survey for 2019-20 showsthat the literacy rate for 10 yearsand above remained stagnant at 60percent compared to the findingsof the same survey done in 2014-15.The results also demonstrate that14 percent of household experiencedmoderate food insecuritywhile 2 percent witnessed severefood insecurity in the country.This official survey known asPSLM was conducted countrywidewith a sample of 6,500 blocksand 19,500 households. The PSLM2019-20 survey provides assessmentof the condition of the districtswith respect to the humandevelopment dimensions like educationand health and living standards.The situation of seven districtsof erstwhile FATA was alsopresented both within KhyberPakhtunkhwa and separatelyamong the seven districts to givean actual depiction of the situation.The survey found the overallsituation to be satisfactory in Punjab,but the districts of the southernPunjab are lagging behind inall indicators.However, in other provincessituation is poor in majority of districtswith some exceptions likeKarachi, Hyderabad in Sindh, Peshawar,Abbottabad, Haripur inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and Quettaand Pishin in Balochistan. It isbriefed that this analysis can beused by federal and provincial governmentsfor effective planningand resource allocation. The literacyrate for 10 years and above remainedstagnant at 60 percent inPSLM 2019-20 as compared toPSLM 2014-15 survey. Sindh hasshown declining trend in literacyrates. Similarly, net enrollments atprimary, middle and matric at alllevels in provinces has either remainedstagnant or shown decreasingtrends. Enrollments at alllevels are highest in Punjab, followedby KKP, Sindh whileBalochistan is at lowest. There are32 percent children aged 5-16years who are currently out ofschool, highest percentage of outof school children is in Balochistani.e. 47 percent and lowest inPunjab i.e. 26 percent. The districtsof Rajanpur in Punjab,Thatta in Sindh, Kohistan & Bajurin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Harnai,Qillah Abdullah & Ziarat arethe bottom ranked districts in Educationindicators within their respectiveprovincesIn terms of all health indicators(Immunization, Pre Natal-Consultations& Skilled Birth attendants),the PSLM 2019-20 survey showsimproving trend as compared toPSLM 2014-15.The full immunization based onrecord for children aged 12-23months increased significantlyfrom 60 percent in 2014-15 to 70percent in 2019-20 and accordinglyall provinces has shown increasingtrend. The Prenatal care has significantlyincreased for women aged15 to 49 years to 77 percent inPSLM 2019-20 as compared to 73percent in PSLM 2014-15. Themother and child health, anotherencouraging factor is the percentageof deliveries assisted by skilledbirth attendants in overall Pakistanis at upward trajectory with68 percent in 2019-20 as comparedto 58 percent in 2014-15. There ishowever, stark difference in thehealth indicators within provinces.Regarding ICT, the results indicatethat overall 12 percent ofhouseholds own computer, laptopetc. 93 percent own mobile phonesand 33 percent have internet access,percentages are higher inurban areas than rural areas with51 percent and 24 percent respectively.The overall 45 percent individualof 10 years and older ownmobile phone and 19 percent useinternet facility. but there are largegender differences in both indicatorswhere 65 percent males ownmobiles as compared to 25 percentfemales. Similarly 24% of males areusing internet as compared to only14 percent females.The results of the Housing surveyreveal large gaps in urban andrural areas and within theprovinces in almost all indicators.While, 72 percent of householdshave improved material used forroof & walls. Overall in Pakistanalmost 96 percent households useelectricity for lighting (91 percenthave electricity supply and 5 percentinstalled solar panels forlighting). As many as 48 percentused gas as main fuel for cooking,while only 37 percent householdsare using clean fuel for lighting,cooking and heating. Similarly, 94percent households are using improvedwater facilities for drinkingwater which includes (Pipedwater, motor pump, hand pump,protected well, protected spring,bottle water, tanker/water bearer).Besides, 68 percent have access totoilet facility which is not sharedwith others.In terms of food insecurity experiencescale, the results revealthat overall in Pakistan 84 percentof the households are food securewhile 14 percent percent householdsreported moderate food insecurity,whereas 2 percent householdsreported severe foodinsecurity.The prevalence of moderateand severe insecurity is highest inBalochistan with 23 percent andlowest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwawith 14 percent. It was informedthat during Covid-19 first wave periodthe same module was used inspecial survey for evaluating thesocio-economic impact of Covid-19 by PBS and had shown 40 percentof households’ experience eithermoderate or severe foodinsecurity (30 percent moderate &10 percent severe).The survey finds 3.4 percent ofpopulation to be disable who eithercannot at all or face a lot ofdifficulty in performing their basicfunctions like seeing, hearing,walking etc. 7.3 percent of populationreported some difficulty inperforming their basic functions.Regarding migration, in PSLMsurvey has found that around 6percent of population are not livingat their place of birth. It is pertinentto mention here that in allprovinces, there is more intraprovince migration (either fromone district to another districtwithin same province or fromrural to urban) than inter provincemigration. The same trend is observedin capitals of the provincesas 13.24 percent population in Lahorereported within province migrationas compared to only 2 percentfrom other provinces.Among six districts of Karachi,district east has the highest percentageof population around 11percent which migrated fromwithin provinces followed by districtscentral and Malir while districtsouth has reported highestpercentage i.e. 9 percent of populationwho migrated from otherprovinces, followed by districtseast & central. In Peshawar thetrend is of intra province migrationthan inter province, however inQuetta both inter and intraprovince migration is of almostsame level.

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