By Sardar Khan Niazi

Most official accounts show Pakistan’s economy periodically turns the corner. GDP growth ticks up, reserves stabilize, deficits narrow, and international lenders express cautious approval. Yet for millions of households, especially the poorest, daily life tells a very different story. Food portions shrink, schooling becomes uncertain, healthcare is deferred, and work grows more precarious. If national success cannot be felt in the kitchens, clinics, and classrooms of poor households, then it is not success at all. The most honest measure of a nation’s progress should be how a poor household prospers in real terms not in headlines, not in averages, but in lived reality. Aggregate indicators conceal distribution. GDP per capita can rise even as the poorest fall behind. Fiscal consolidation may impress creditors while eroding public services relied upon by low-income families. For a poor household, prosperity is not abstract growth; it is whether monthly income buys more calories, better nutrition, safer housing, reliable electricity, clean water, affordable transport, and access to quality education and healthcare. If these essentials become less affordable, the economy is failing its most basic test. Prospering in real terms means sustained improvements after accounting for inflation, volatility, and risk. Poor households are especially exposed to price shocks because food and energy dominate their budgets. They also lack buffers — savings, insurance, political voice — to absorb crises. When inflation spikes or growth slows, they feel it first and hardest. A success metric grounded in real terms would ask: Has the cost of a nutritious food basket fallen relative to wages? Are children completing school rather than dropping out to work? Has preventable illness declined because primary healthcare is accessible and affordable? Are women’s time burdens easing through better transport, water, and childcare? Are informal workers gaining stability, skills, and protections? These questions define whether growth is inclusive or illusory. For decades, policy has leaned on the promise that growth will eventually trickle down. In practice, benefits often pool at the top while risks are socialized at the bottom. A build-up approach reverses the logic: start by improving the real incomes and capabilities of the poorest and broader growth follows. Evidence from across the world shows that investments in nutrition, early education, public health, and basic infrastructure yield high returns. Cash transfers indexed to inflation protect consumption during shocks. Progressive taxation and efficient targeting create fiscal space without overburdening the poor. Formalizing work, supporting small enterprises, and expanding skills raise productivity where most people actually work. None of this is radical; it is pragmatic. Economies grow more resilient when households are healthier, better educated, and less anxious about survival. Pakistan should publish and prioritize a concise dashboard centered on poor households’ real outcomes: real median wages at the bottom quintile; cost and quality of a nutritious food basket; school completion and learning levels in low-income districts; out-of-pocket health spending; access to water, sanitation, and energy; and exposure to shocks. Crucially, these indicators should guide policy choices. If stabilization raises utility prices, what compensatory measures protect the poor? If development spending is cut, which services deteriorate first? If growth accelerates, who gains in real terms? Ultimately, this is a moral argument as much as an economic one. Development is about dignity — the ability to plan, to aspire, to weather setbacks without catastrophe. When a poor household can save a little, educate its children, and access care without fear of ruin, the nation is succeeding. National success should not be declared in conference halls alone. It should be evident in the steady improvement of the poorest households’ real lives. Until that becomes our primary benchmark, we will continue to mistake motion for progress — and growth for prosperity.