KARACHI: Four in every 10 families in Pakistan are now living in poverty, surviving on less than $3.65 a day, while nearly 1,000 children under five die daily as polio cases have surged alarmingly, according to the UNICEF Pakistan Annual Report 2024 released this week.
The report paints a disturbing picture of rising deprivation and risk for the country’s youngest generation. Since the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2022 floods, Pakistan’s poverty rate has increased by 9 percentage points, pushing millions more into hardship and forcing children out of schools, health systems, and protection networks.
UNICEF warns that nearly 1,000 children under the age of five die every day in Pakistan, and about 700 of these are newborns. At the same time, 27 women die daily due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth, most of them preventable with timely care.
The resurgence of wild poliovirus is another major concern. Seventy-four cases of polio were confirmed in 34 districts during 2024—a sharp increase from just six cases in 2023. Although national immunization efforts reached nearly 45 million children, UNICEF cautioned that misinformation and resistance continue to undermine progress.
Malnutrition remains a silent emergency. In 2024, 565,000 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition, while millions more remain at risk. The report notes that only 47 percent of health facilities offer nutrition services, and Pakistan is off-track to meet global nutrition targets. On the education front, the situation is equally dire. Over 25 million children are out of school, many of them girls. Climate shocks, including floods and prolonged heatwaves, further disrupted education services across the country.
The report also warns that Pakistan remains one of the countries with the highest number of zero-dose children—those who have never received a single routine vaccine—leaving them vulnerable to deadly but preventable diseases like measles and pneumonia.
Pakistan was described as the world’s most climate-vulnerable country in 2024, facing a range of disasters from monsoon floods and droughts to extreme heatwaves. These events have devastated already fragile infrastructure and deepened food and water insecurity for children and families. Public health spending remains dangerously low, at just 2.91 percent of GDP, far below global benchmarks. Meanwhile, children with disabilities remain largely excluded from essential services, often unregistered and invisible in official systems.
Despite the bleak statistics, UNICEF stresses that timely and collective action can still reverse these trends. “Children’s resilience is not an excuse for inaction,” said Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan. “It is a call to support them faster, further, and better.”
The report urges the government and development partners to scale up investment in child health, nutrition, education, and climate adaptation, warning that without urgent reforms, Pakistan risks losing a generation to poverty, disease, and environmental collapse.
Published in News Daily on 01 July 2025.
