Social Exclusion in Pakistan : An Ethnographic and Regional Perspective

This paper is an attempt to analyse the nature and extent of social exclusion across regions, ethno-linguistic groups and different professions in Pakistan. By using household level data of Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey, we have constructed Social Exclusion Index as well as Multidimensional Deprivation Scores across the households. Social Exclusion Index has been developed by using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) whereas Multidimensional Deprivation Scores have been calculated by following the methodology proposed by Alkire and Foster (2011). In total, nine household level indicators related with living standards, education and health have been used for this purpose. In next step, the relationship of different household characteristics such as profession of household head, region of residence and ethno-linguistic identity has been explored with Social Exclusion Index and Multidimensional Deprivation Scores. The empirical results of our analysis show that even after controlling for the income of household, Social Exclusion Index and Multidimensional Deprivation Scores have been found to be significantly different across different professions, different regions and different linguistic groups. This confirms the prevalence of social exclusion in Pakistani society. Compensatory government policies are suggested as an option to cope with the problem of social exclusion