Pakistan's long-promised escape from poverty is slipping away. For nearly two decades, the country steadily pulled millions out of deprivation. Today, that progress has stalled — and, in many cases, reversed. This should trouble a nation that once cut poverty from 64% to just 22%. The uncomfortable truth is that Pakistan is no longer lifting people up, it is barely keeping them from falling.

The old engines of progress have broken down. The shift from farm labour to services once powered more than half of all poverty reduction. But that transition has reached its ceiling. Jobs now created — mostly in informal retail and low-productivity services — cannot sustain a dignified life. They merely prolong fragility. Remittances, another lifeline, have also lost their force, especially for the p

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