Traditional scarf with ajrak ornament. Ajrak is a special form of block printing in Pakistan.
Copyright© Abdul Hakeem Memon, via flickr, CC BY 2.0
Pakistan Influential partner country in South Asia
Pakistan has a population of nearly 250 million, making it the fifth most populous country in the world. A high level of population growth, weak public administration, the current economic and financial crisis, deficits with regard to the protection of human rights, and high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change are posing great structural challenges for Pakistan.
In the current Human Development Index (HDI), Pakistan ranks 161st out of the 191 countries listed.
2022 flood disaster
In mid-2022, exceptionally heavy monsoon rain caused devastating floods in Pakistan. For some time, one third of the country's area was flooded. The disaster affected 33 million people. There was heavy damage to infrastructure. Harvests and livestock were lost. The flood disaster led to a food crisis. According to United Nations figures, over ten million people are experiencing acute food insecurity (June 2023). A total of over 20 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The German government provided nearly 100 million euros to help the country to address the social impacts of the disaster and to rebuild. About 67 million euros of this amount has come from the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). An international donor conference in January 2023 generated pledges totalling about ten billion euros.
A refuge for people from Afghanistan
Pakistan is the world's number one host of refugees from Afghanistan. Over 1.3 million people from the neighbouring country have been registered officially in Pakistan. In addition, a large number of refugees are living in the country without having registered. Most refugees are living outside refugee camps in urban or semi-urban areas, especially in the Provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Pakistan requires international assistance in order to provide services for the refugees.
German development cooperation with Pakistan
Germany and Pakistan have engaged in development cooperation since 1961, the year that the BMZ was founded. Germany's development cooperation with Pakistan is geared towards supporting the country in achieving sustainable development. The cooperation focuses on the following core areas:
- Climate and energy, just transition
- Sustainable economic development, training and employment
- Health, social protection and population policy
In addition, the BMZ is assisting Pakistan in the economically weak regions on the Afghan border in improving services for Afghan refugees and developing municipal infrastructure. Where possible, account is taken of women as a key target group in all projects, and special support is provided to their active participation.
Geographically, the programme of development cooperation is concentrated on the north-west of the country. Germany is one of the few donors working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with their own structures and staff. Another focus is on the populous Province of Punjab. Among other things, it is home to a large number of textile companies.
At the government negotiations in May 2023, the BMZ committed 163.3 million euros in new funding to Pakistan. Of this sum, 108.5 million euros has been earmarked for Financial Cooperation and 54.8 million euros for Technical Cooperation.
SDG trends for Pakistan
- On track or maintaining SDG achievement
- Moderately improving
- Stagnating
- Decreasing
- Trend information unavailable