WORLD PULSE
—:—:— PKT

National Well-Being Observatory

The state of Pakistan

Every reading below is a real, sourced figure as of 21 July 2026. Population 241.5 million. Click any number to interrogate its source, evidence grade and vintage.

A

Snapshot v2026.07

31 indicators · 8 sources

Economy & markets

Macro readings

Fast-moving, official (Grade A). Verified July 2026.

Headline inflationData age: Current — Jun 2026
−0.6 pts MoM
Food inflationData age: Current — Jun 2026
+0.96% MoM
RupeeData age: Current — 22 Jul 2026
firmer vs ~283 a yr ago
PetrolData age: Current — 23 Jul 2026
up Rs6.39 on daily pricing
Policy rateData age: Current — 27 Jul 2026 MPC
held at 27 Jul MPC
FX reserves (SBP)Data age: Current — 10 Jul 2026
rebuilding
Remittances FY26Data age: Current — FY2026
+8.6% YoY · record
GDP growth FY26Data age: Current — FY2026
+0.5 pts vs FY25
Credit rating (S&P)Data age: Current — 22 Jul 2026
from B− · first since 2016-17

Twenty-five years

The Time Machine

Drag through history, or press play. A child born in 2000 faced very different odds.

The Time Machine · drag through history

2026today
per 1,000 · 2000–2026
20002005201020152020202456

World Bank / UN long-run series · values between observation years are interpolated for the slider.

Headline CPI · year-on-year

11.1%re-accelerated from 3.1% (Aug 2025)
Inflation, %
0%2%4%6%8%10%12%14%JulSepNovJanMarMayJun

The one genuine 12-month series in the snapshot — most national indicators are monthly, annual or survey-based, and are shown with their own vintage rather than a fabricated weekly trend.

Cost of living · SPI basket

What changed on the shelf

Item
← cheaperdearer →
YoY
+71.8%
+49.1%
+42.5%
+14.3%
+8.0%
+6.8%
+0.8%
12.4%
16.7%
21.1%
21.7%

Wheat flour up 71.8% in a year, while sugar and pulses fell over 21%. Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator, national average.

People & families

Human development & child well-being

Survey-based indicators — freshness dials show which readings are aging.

Poverty rateData age: Recent — FY25 estimate
line rebased from 44.7%
UnemploymentData age: Recent — FY2024-25
LFS 2024-25 (was 6.3%)
Adult literacyData age: Recent — FY2024-25
Under-5 stuntingData age: Old baseline — 2018 survey
Learning povertyData age: Recent — WB estimate
Grade-5 can read Grade-2 textData age: Current — ASER 2025
Out-of-school childrenData age: Recent — 2023-24
official figure disputed
Under-5 mortalityData age: Recent — 2024 estimate
declining trend
Fully immunized (12–23 mo)Data age: Old baseline — 2017-18 survey
Maternal mortalityData age: Aging — 2019 survey
Balochistan 298 · Punjab 157
Polio cases (2026 YTD)Data age: Current — as of 15 Jul
31 in 2025, 74 in 2024
Measles deaths (Jan–Apr)Data age: Recent — Jan–Apr 2026
4,541 confirmed cases
Married before 18Data age: Old baseline — 2017-18
41% in 1993

Comparison

Pakistan in its neighbourhood

Pakistan India · Bangladesh · Sri Lanka

per 1,000 · PK ranks 4/4

56

years · PK ranks 4/4

67.8

% · PK ranks 4/4

63%

% · PK ranks 4/4

40.2%

US$ · PK ranks 4/4

$1,479

World Bank, latest comparable year (~2023–24). Pakistan trails all three neighbours on every human-development measure shown.

Trajectory

Distance to 2030

◦ 2015 baseline● today▮ 2030 target

SDG 3.2

56 25

off pace

SDG 3.1

186 70

off pace

SDG 2.2

40.2% 20%

off pace

SDG 4.1

35% 0%

off pace

SDG 7.1

95.7% 100%

off pace

SDG 6.1

45% 100%

off pace

Targets are the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; “on pace” means Pakistan has covered at least the share of the 2015→2030 distance the calendar has.

Institutions & safety

Safety & security

Independent trackers, shown as a range where sources disagree — never false precision.

Terrorist attacksData age: Recent — CY2025
+34% YoY · deadliest year in a decade
Conflict-related fatalitiesData age: Recent — Jan-Nov 2025
+25% vs. full-year 2024
Karachi street crimeData age: Recent — CY2025
−9.5% vs 2024 (official)
Official crime-reduction claim, fact-checkedData age: Recent — late 2025
claim did not hold up
2026 monsoon flood emergencyData age: Current — as of 22 Jul 2026
20 in KP alone since 19 Jul
Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict, Feb-Apr 2026Data age: Old baseline — Feb-Mar 2026
115,000+ displaced
Conflict exposure (regional)Data age: Recent — Jan-Nov 2025
KP 68% · Balochistan 28%
Kidnapping (conflict-linked)Data age: Recent — Jan-Nov 2025
KP worst-affected (142)

Public finance

Budget & defense

Official allocation vs. SIPRI's independent estimate, where one exists.

Federal budget FY2026-27Data age: Current — 12 Jun 2026
+7% YoY
Debt servicingData age: Current — FY2026-27
PKR 8.05tn · largest line item
Defense budgetData age: Current — FY2026-27
+15.6–17.7% YoY · ~2.08% of GDP
Federal development spending (PSDP)Data age: Current — FY2026-27
1/3 of the defense budget
Debt servicing8.05 trillion
Defense3.00 trillion
Development (PSDP)1.00 trillion

Debt servicing alone (₨8.05tn) is larger than defense and development spending combined (₨4tn) — the single starkest fact in Pakistan's fiscal position.

Governance

Election administration

Neutral, procedural facts — this dashboard does not adjudicate rigging claims.

This panel reports neutral, procedural facts about how elections are administered — turnout, formal complaint counts, and what independent observer missions themselves documented. It does not characterize or adjudicate contested claims about whether an election was 'rigged'; that determination belongs to courts and election tribunals, not this dashboard.

47.6%

60.6 million votes cast of 128.6 million registered voters — down from 52.1% in 2018.

374petitions

113 National Assembly + 236 provincial assembly seats challenged. Two years on, 66% (246) have been decided by tribunals — of those, 242 were dismissed and only 4 accepted (all in Balochistan, resulting in ordered repolling at select stations). 34% remain pending.

Mixed transparency

The EU's 2024 mission report has not been made public (a 2018 EU mission did publish a detailed public report) — reporting states EU citizens' freedom-of-information requests were refused. The Commonwealth Observer Group's final report, released Sep 2025, commended ECP efforts on inclusion (narrowing the voter-registration gender gap from 12% to 7.7%) while noting unspecified 'areas for improvement.'

90,675polling stations

700,000+ security personnel deployed. A new Election Management System replaced the 2018 Result Transmission System that had crashed on election night.

People & families

Gender-based violence

Aggregate trends only — never individual case detail.

These are reported/registered cases only — not a measure of true incidence. Independent estimates suggest roughly 70–95% of gender-based violence and child sexual abuse in Pakistan goes unreported, so these figures are best read as a floor, not a ceiling. Provincial comparisons largely reflect uneven reporting infrastructure (specialized women's police stations, media reach) rather than true differences in risk. This dashboard shows only aggregate national trends — never individual case detail.

6,5432025 (HRCP)

Up ~25% vs. the prior 11-month period — includes 3,815 rape and 983 gang-rape cases. ~60% of incidents occur inside the home.

3,6302025 (Sahil)

+8% vs 2024's 3,364. Girls 53%, boys 47%. 82% of reported cases were registered with police. Methodology is media-monitoring based (81 newspapers) — the tracker's own stated floor on true incidence, not a full count.

~0.5%

Independent-tracker estimate. Specialized GBV courts in some Sindh districts reportedly reach ~17% (up from ~5% in 2020) — evidence that dedicated judicial infrastructure meaningfully improves outcomes where it exists.

Infrastructure, environment & future capability

Services & the years ahead

Electricity accessData age: Recent — 2024
Broadband penetrationData age: Current — Mar 2026
161m subscribers
Safely-managed waterData age: Recent — 2024
Lahore PM2.5Data age: Current — 2025
18× WHO guideline
IT exports FY26Data age: Current — FY2026
+20.6% YoY · record
Minimum wageData age: Current — FY2026-27
+10% for FY27

Evidence grades

AOfficial direct measurementBTrusted institutional datasetCReputable non-official sourceDModelled from official inputsEExperimental estimate

Sources: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, State Bank of Pakistan, OGRA, NEPRA, Finance Division, World Bank, UNICEF / UN IGME, Pakistan Institute of Education, IQAir. Figures verified against primary releases in July 2026; estimates are labelled and never disguised as official facts.