Pakistan’s Ranking in Social Development: Have We Always Been Backward?

Consensus is emerging between development thinkers and practitioners that social progress is a necessary pre-condition for sustained economic growth. Social development leads to higher levels of literacy, better health standards and overall improvement in the society’s living conditions. In fact, empirical evidence suggests that there is a two-way relationship between economic growth and social development [Ghaus-Pasha et al. (1998)]. Economic growth leads to higher revenues for government and higher per capita income, encouraging both public and private spendings on human development. Improvements in social indicators feedback as higher economic growth through enhanced productivity for labour and capital. In other words, well-developed human capital makes a significant contribution to economic growth which, in turn, offers improved welfare and better living conditions.