Alleviating Poverty in Pakistan: Insights from China's Success Story

This work is a comparative study of poverty mitigation policies of China and Pakistan with particular reference to CPEC. China had similar levels of poverty to Pakistan in the late 1970s, but the country has made huge progress in fighting poverty, while Pakistan has struggled. Factors that contributed to China's success have been examined in the following paper including institutions reform, macro stability, anti-poverty measures (part of broader poverty reduction strategies). In comparison, Pakistan has been lagging behind because of the weak institutional capacity, paternalistic mode of governance, and issues with being able to effectively run poverty alleviation initiatives. The study further discusses the CPEC enlightenment about Sustainable development in Pakistan and demands balanced and fair policies to handle the environmental and social impacts. The purpose of this paper drawing lessons from China, is to inform policy decisions that can assist Pakistan in achieving its poverty reduction targets.