Islamabad, February 19 – A new assessment by the United Nations (UN) has revealed that approximately 7.5 million people in Pakistan face high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition after a year marked by heavy monsoon floods, prolonged drought, dry spells, and increased violence.
From December 2025 to March 2026, around 1.25 million people will face "emergency" levels of acute food insecurity, characterized by large food gaps and high levels of acute malnutrition, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report. Immediate life-saving assistance is required to prevent a "disaster" for over a million people in Pakistan facing emergency levels of food insecurity.
The residual impacts of the 2025 monsoon floods, drought, and localized insecurity have weakened agricultural and pastoral livelihoods, reduced production, impacted markets, and strained coping capacity.
Furthermore, seasonal factors have exacerbated the crisis, with the lean season reducing farm labor and income opportunities, and harsh winter conditions in some areas further impacting access to resources and livelihoods, according to the UN statement.
Food access has been affected in some areas of Pakistan due to weak purchasing power, market dependence, price volatility, and indebtedness, according to the UN statement. Wheat flour has also been identified as a particular concern during the lean season.
Last month, a report stated that Pakistan is struggling to afford food and education. A 20-year comparison of household consumption in Pakistan reveals a structural shift in funds towards covering living costs rather than spending on food, according to a new poll released by Gallup Pakistan.
Data from the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) reveals that the share of money spent by households on food decreased from 43 per cent to 37 per cent between 2005 and 2025. During the same period, housing and utilities increased from 15 per cent to a quarter of household budgets, according to an editorial in Pakistan's leading daily, 'The News International'.
"Gallup's analysis finds that, when viewed alongside weaker real incomes and evidence of declining food quantities, this trend likely reflects households cutting back on food consumption to cope with rising fixed expenses, such as housing and utilities, rather than food becoming more affordable. This is also not the only analysis that finds that Pakistanis are cutting back on food," it highlighted.
The HIES 2024-25 survey revealed that the number of people facing moderate-to-severe food insecurity has increased from one in six to one in four between 2018-19 and 2024-25, making it more difficult for residents of Pakistan to survive in the present and the prospects for the future also do not look promising.
"According to the Institute of Social and Policy Science (I-SAP)’s 15th annual report on ‘Public Financing of Education,’ families are now bearing the majority of spending on education; a first in the nation’s history. Of the Rs 5.03 trillion total cost of education, household spending accounts for Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 2.8 trillion while the public sector contributes PKR 2.23 trillion," the editorial detailed.
Household spending comprises Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 1.31 trillion spent on paying private school fees, PKR 613 billion on tuition and private tutoring, and PKR 878 billion in other expenses. This disparity comes amid people preferring the private education system for their children and major issues related to the adequacy of the public education system.
Approximately 20 million children remain out of school, and it appears that those who can afford to send their children to private schools and tutors will be the ones who receive education in Pakistan, 'The News International' opined.
