Pakistan

Results are from an analysis of the 2017 Demographic and Health Survey. Information on methodology is in the report and in the method briefs.

Prevalence of Functional Difficulties

In Pakistan, the share of adults aged 15 and older with any functional difficulty stands at 24%. Separating by level of difficulty, the prevalence rates of some difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty are 16.2% and 7.9% respectively. The prevalence of functional difficulties is higher for women (26.3%) than for men (21.6%). Functional difficulties are more prevalent among older age groups, at 8% for ages 15 to 29, 19.6% for ages 30 to 44, 48.8% for ages 45 to 64, and 73.8% for ages 65 and over. Across the six functional domains considered, difficulties with seeing (13.4%) and mobility (12.5%) are most common.

About six in ten households have an adult with any functional difficulty: at the household level, the prevalence of any functional difficulty is at 59.9%, including 34.1% with some difficulty and 25.8% with at least a lot of difficulty. The prevalence of functional difficulties is similar in rural areas compared to urban areas: 24.9% vs. 22.6% among adults and 55.9% vs. 58.7% among households, for rural and urban areas, respectively.

Table 1: Pakistan: Prevalence of functional difficulties (%)

Group Any difficulty Some difficulty At least a lot of difficulty
All adults 24.01 16.16 7.85
Females 26.29 17.64 8.65
Males 21.61 14.60 7.01
Rural residents 24.93 16.25 8.68
Urban residents 22.55 16.02 6.53
Ages 15 to 29 8.04 5.59 2.45
Ages 30 to 44 19.62 14.86 4.76
Ages 45 to 64 48.84 34.66 14.18
Ages 65 and over 73.83 36.91 36.92
Seeing 13.39 10.73 2.67
Hearing 4.19 3.00 1.19
Mobility 12.51 7.99 4.52
Cognitive 7.53 5.97 1.56
Self-care 3.67 2.37 1.30
Communication 2.03 1.28 0.76
All households 59.87 34.08 25.80
Rural households 55.92 34.03 21.89
Urban households 58.68 36.52 22.15

Source: Pakistan 2017 Demographic and Health Survey, own calculations

Key indicators on the deprivations and wellbeing experienced by persons with and without functional difficulties are presented in Table 2. Table 2 begins with information on the multidimensional poverty headcount—the rate of persons deprived in more than one dimension in the areas of education, work, health, and standard of living. Persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty headcount of 76% compared to 64% for persons with some functional difficulty and 49% for persons with no difficulty.

Table 2: Pakistan: Key indicators for adults age 15+ by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)

Indicator No Difficulty Some Difficulty Difference between no difficulty and some difficulty At least a lot of difficulty Difference between no difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty
Multidimensional poverty headcount 49 64 -15*** 76 -27***
Less than primary school 40 58 -18*** 72 -32***
Employment population ratio 34 35 -1 32 2
Safely managed drinking water 90 91 -1* 92 -2**
Safely managed sanitation 74 72 2* 70 4***
Clean fuel 51 51 0 46 5***
Electricity 93 93 0 92 1
Adequate housing 57 56 1 51 5***
Owns assets 39 38 1*** 35 4***
Notes: *, **, and *** indicate that the difference is statistically significant at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. Numbers in the difference columns are in percentage points while all other numbers in the table are percentages.
Source: Pakistan 2017 Demographic and Health Survey, own calculations

Education

The share of adults who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is significantly higher among persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty (72%) and persons with some difficulty (58%) compared to persons with no difficulty (40%). This boils down to gaps of 18 percentage points (p.p.) between persons with some functional difficulty and persons with no difficulty and 32 p.p. between persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty and persons with no difficulty.

Work

Persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a lower employment population ratio (or share of the population working) than persons with no difficulty, at 32% and 34%, respectively. At 35%, persons with some difficulty have a higher employment population ratio than persons with no difficulty. However, neither of these differences are statistically significant.

Health

Regarding the rates of access to safely managed drinking water, persons with some or at least a lot of functional difficulty are significantly better off than persons with no difficulty, but the differences are small (less than 2 p.p.). There are significant differences in terms of the rates of access to safely managed sanitation, with lower rates for persons with some difficulty (2 p.p.) and even lower rates for persons with at least a lot of difficulty (4 p.p.).

Standard of Living

Rates of access to electricity are similar across the different functional difficulty groups. There is a statistically significant difference in the rates of access to clean fuel and adequate housing only between persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty and persons with no difficulty. There are also significant differences in terms of the share of individuals who own assets, with lower rates for persons with some difficulty and even lower rates for persons with at least a lot of difficulty.

More results for Pakistan are available in results tables on the ddi website.