Role of Education in Poverty Mitigation in Pakistan: Evidence from Southern Punjab

Abstract

Poverty is one of the most common and challenging issues in the world, especially for developing economies. The development pace will never be speedier until this issue is resolved beforehand. In the case of Pakistan, poverty is still persistent and increasing due to multifactor. The current study endeavors to investigate the multi-dimensional relation between educational attainment level and its impact on household poverty in South Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose 800 households are selected as a sample. Ordinary Least Square and Binary Logistic methods are used. It transpired from the outcomes that variables that have a positive impact on poverty include the size of the household and family system. On the other hand, age of the head of household, education of the head of household, natural log of assets of the household, employment status of the household head, spouse participation in income generation, area of residence of the household, foreign remittances and unemployment status are adversely affecting. This study is endowed with regional and divisional level comparisons. It emerged from the result that amongst the three, Dera Ghazi Khan (DG Khan) is the most vulnerable. Family size, family system, and employment status have adversely affected the economic face of this division. It is recommended that an effective family planning regime, along with improved education attainment level and urbanization of the rural areas of this vicinity be strongly focused on a priority basis.