For decades, Pakistan has sought economic growth through classic and familiar objectives: increasing GDP, attracting investment, promoting exports and maintaining macroeconomic stability.

Yet despite intermittent periods of economic expansion these gains have rarely translated into lasting improvements in the lives of ordinary Pakistanis. Poverty remains persistent from 64.3% in 2000s to 21.9% in 2018 and to 25.3% in 2024, educational outcomes lag behind regional peers with one in four children out of school and three out of five unable to read or write after five years, child malnutrition has become a national concern as it undermines future productivity and the vast majority of workers are trapped in low productivity informal…