One Generation, Ten Times More Income… and Still Struggling

Three decades of HIES data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics tell a quiet but powerful story about the average Pakistani household.

In 2001–02, the average household income was around PKR 7,800.
By 2005–06, it crossed PKR 12,000.
By 2010–11, it reached PKR 21,800.
By 2015–16, it was PKR 35,700.
By 2018–19, it stood at PKR 41,500.
And by 2024–25, it has risen to about PKR 82,200.

On paper, this looks like extraordinary progress — a more than ten-fold increase within one generation.

But history reminds us that numbers alone do not tell the full story.

For a family that started its working life in the early 2000s, income rose steadily for almost twenty years. Then, in just the last five to six years, income doubled — largely because prices, currency depreciation, and cost of living surged faster than ever before.

In other words, one generation of Pakistanis experienced two very different realities:

➡️ The first half of the journey was about gradual improvement.
➡️ The second half became about economic survival.

This is why today’s young adults often feel more financially stressed than their parents did at the same age — even though the income numbers are much higher.

It is also why older generations remember stability, while younger generations remember volatility.