WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Seite 663

Standard Project Report 2016
Country Context and WFP Objectives
Country Context
Pakistan ranks as the sixth most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 184 million people,
projected to increase to over 227 million by 2025. The Government's goal to reduce hunger and food insecurity, laid
out in the country's long term development plan Vision 2025, is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). However, climate change-induced shocks (such as earthquakes, droughts, floods, landslides); population
growth, environmental degradation and urbanisation; water stress; energy insufficiency; and the declining share of
agricultural investment, among other things, cumulatively make for a very challenging environment in which to
achieve and sustain improvements in food security and nutrition. Twenty-two percent of the population of Pakistan
(approximately 41 million people) are undernourished according to the State of Food Insecurity 2015.
This situation is exacerbated by the continued prevalence of significant socioeconomic inequities across geographic
regions and income levels. According to recent estimates, 30 percent of the population lives below the
multidimensional poverty line. At the provincial level, 73 and 71 percent of the population in Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan, respectively, live in poverty as compared to 31 percent in Punjab and 43
percent in Sindh.
At the national level, Pakistan is self-sufficient in meeting the needs of its growing population for cereals and
essential food items. Furthermore, according to WFP's market price assessments Pakistan experienced generally
stable retail prices of staple cereals and non-cereal commodities in 2016. Despite this, according to the Cost of Diet
study [1], 68 percent of households in Pakistan are not able to afford a staple-adjusted nutritious diet. Widespread
undernutrition is one of the greatest challenges faced by the country, with 43.7 percent of children under 5 years
Pakistan, Islamic Republic of (PK)
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Single Country Special Operation - 200707