High earning middle class only 2.5pc of population in Pakistan
By Mansoor Ahmad
LAHORE: Income disparities in India are more pronounced than Pakistan but it has developed a consumer base of 130 million strong upper middle class earners between $10,000 to $50,000 a year that Pakistan lacks proportionate to its population.
Economic experts point out that the presence of such a strong upper middle class comprising around 11 per cent of its population is the main reason for its robust economy. They pointed out that in contrast such high earning middle class is limited to hardly two million in Pakistan, which accounts for less than 2.5 per cent of its population.
They said that effective middle class comprising industry professionals, scientists, doctors, engineers play a pivotal role in the growth of a country. They said those earning over $10,000 a year in developing nations enjoy the same living standards as enjoyed by a person earning $25,000 in developed country. They said the notion that those living above poverty level are the real middle class is not true because they have no voice in the developing societies.
Senior economist Naveed Anwar Khan said that the number of people earning above $10,000 a year has grown in Pakistan but the two million workforce employed by the India IT industry alone earn more than this amount. He said the resource distribution in recent years have been fairer in India for the skilled and professional workers. It would have been in Pakistan had we prepared the skilled human resource, he added.
He said a middle class in relative terms can be defined, as the middle income range of each country; The problem with this approach, he added is that each country has a different median income, so the definition of what is middle class shifts from place to place. A more prudent method he added is to use a fixed income band for all countries. He said this is more representative method because this constitutes empowered segment of society in every country.
Market analyst Yunus Kamran FCA said in India the local and international banks are making consumer credit increasingly available to middle-class borrowers. This is spurring a new wave of consumer spending unprecedented in India’s history. Whereas in Pakistan the commercial banks are pulling out of consumer finance as it carries high risk due to limited incomes of the middle class.
He said Indians are optimistic that their upper middle class would expand to 39 million by 2012. He said they have reason for the optimist.
In 1995 he added those earning $10,000 to $50,000 in India accounted for only 2 per cent of its population that increased to 5 per cent in 2005 and 11 per cent in 2009.
The momentum has been set and India would now grow on its middle class for years to come, he added. A new wave of consumer spending unprecedented in India’s history has sprung he added. He said Pakistan need to increase its effective middle class by increasing its spending on education and skill training. Only after that we could dream of sustained growth on local consumption, he said.
Asif Ali Shahid CPA said that it is the middle class are intellectuals, engineers, doctors, scientists, and industry professionals. They are the backbone of civil society. They influence policies. They fight corruption, bad governance and incompetence. They spur growth; they are consumers of goods and services.
The middle class is also different when it comes to the role of freedom in their lives. They support struggle for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from hunger and poverty, or freedom from crime and violence. He said the middle class is more inclined than the less wealthy to consider equal judicial treatment very important.
When confronted with a choice between a good democracy and a strong economy, members of the middle classes in many developing countries prefer good democracy over affluence, he said.
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