Punjab Is Still Divided into Mohsin Hamid’s “AC Class” and “Non-AC Class”

In Moth Smoke, Mohsin Hamid offered one of the sharpest descriptions of inequality in Pakistan: the country could be divided into those who have air-conditioning and those who do not.


More than two decades later, the distinction remains remarkably powerful.

Even in Lahore, only 29% of households own an air conditioner. The figure falls to:

19.5% in Gujranwala
18.2% in Gujrat
17.7% in Sialkot
8% in Multan
5.1% in Rahim Yar Khan
2.1% in Rajanpur
2% in Dera Ghazi Khan

This is not merely a ranking of household appliances. It is a map of who can purchase relief from Pakistan’s increasingly punishing summers—and who must endure the heat without it.

The contrast is striking: a household in Lahore is around 14 times more likely to own an AC than one in Dera Ghazi Khan. And even in Punjab’s most prosperous city, the “AC class” remains a minority.

Economists often divide people by income quintile, occupation or consumption expenditure. Mohsin Hamid identified a segmentation variable that ordinary Pakistanis immediately understand:

Can you control the temperature inside your home—or must you live with whatever temperature exists outside?

The AC/non-AC divide may still be one of the clearest ways to understand the haves and have-nots of Pakistan.