The World Bank estimates the percentage of Afghanistan population falling below the poverty line 36.
KABUL - the Bank announced to support the government of national unity plans to solve this problem.
Afghanistan is one of the most impoverished nations in Asia. With 36% of its population living below the poverty line, Afghanistan is only second to Bangladesh as Asia’s poorest country.
Poverty is most heavily concentrated in the rural areas of Afghanistan. While 90% of urban households have access to electricity, only 29% of rural households do.
Additionally, 58% of urban households have access to safe water, but only 19% of rural homes do.
The lowest rates of poverty occur in Afghanistan’s urban areas. The province of Kabul has a poverty rate of 29% while 36% of Afghans in rural areas and 54% of nomadic Afghans live in poverty.
The World Bank has found that “the higher the human capital endowment of the household head, the lower the risk for the household to be poor.” Thus, those who live in rural areas in Afghanistan and have less access to education have a higher risk of living in poverty.
In the meantime, the ministry of economy has started a survey to address the problems of those provinces that have more problems.
“Many programs have been carried out in the past 13 years but were not balanced. Level of living in some provinces is very low and we are trying to make them balanced,” Abdul Satar Murad, the minister of economy said.
To address the problem of poverty, Afghanistan must improve school enrollment rates. Only a minority of children are enrolled in primary school in Afghanistan.
A meager 36% of the poorest Afghans attend primary school, while 46% of the richest Afghans do. Additionally, 43% of boys are enrolled in primary school, while only 31% of girls are.
The effects of the lower school attendance rates of females are evident in women’s literacy rates in Afghanistan. In seven of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, the female literacy rate is 1%.
Even in Afghanistan’s most educated province of Kabul, where the overall literacy rate is 47%, the female literacy reaches only 30%.
These statistics suggest that poverty reduction programs in Afghanistan can begin by focusing on improving the education of all Afghans while also closing the gender gap that is seen in school enrollment.
In order for more Afghans to be lifted out of poverty, they must have improved access to education. With better education, Afghans will have better opportunities to earn a higher income and lift themselves out of poverty. (Monitoring Desk)