With over 60% of its population under 30, Pakistan faces a growing youth crisis driven by unemployment, poor education, and lack of opportunities
Mir Fahad Gabol
In the heart of South Asia, Pakistan stands at a demographic tipping point. Over 64 percent of its 240 million people are under 30, making it one of the world’s youngest populations. This youth bulge mirrors regional trends, with India at 52 percent and Bangladesh at 55 percent, but it carries uniquely explosive potential. With 31 percent of youth unemployed and 22.8 million out-of-school children, Pakistan’s future hinges on a generation grappling with systemic neglect. This is not mere hyperbole. When millions of educated, connected young people face dead ends while witnessing elites thrive through corruption, the metaphor of a “time-ticking bomb” becomes disturbingly literal.
Pakistan’s youth crisis is a policy failure decades in the making. While India’s Skill India Mission trained 14 million youth from 2020 to 2023 and Bangladesh’s garment sector absorbs 4 million young workers, Pakistan’s youth-focused budgets remain symbolic. The Kamyab Jawan Programme, touted as revolutionary, disbursed loans to just 27,000 beneficiaries in three years — a drop in an ocean of 4.5 million annual labour market entrants.
The human cost is staggering. Ayesha Rahman, an engineering graduate from Lahore, has been selling mobile accessories for four years after a period of job hunting. “My degree cost my father his savings. Now he asks, ‘Was it worth it?’ I have no answer.” Public sector jobs, historically a lifeline, now require bribes averaging ₨500,000, or about $1,800, for entry-level roles, as exposed by Transparency International Pakistan. Political volatility worsens the haemorrhage. With four prime ministers in six years, youth policies reset with each administration. Meanwhile, military spending consumes 17 percent of the budget, while education receives just 1.7 percent.
Disillusionment has crystallised into movements echoing regional unrest. India’s farmers’ protests inspired Pakistan’s Haq Do Tehreek, led by Gen-Z activists demanding jobs and infrastructure. Digital mobilisation has become a lifeline. Hashtags like #YouthDemandAction trend during budget season, while Instagram pages like “Pakistan’s Jobless” amplify stories of despair with dark humour.
Yet activism here intersects uniquely with existential struggles. After 2022’s biblical floods drowned one-third of the country, the Youth Climate Movement of Pakistan forced courts to hear its first environmental rights case. Female graduates like Zara Khan in Peshawar lead coding bootcamps despite threats from conservative factions. “They say tech isn’t for women. But starvation isn’t for anyone.”
The countdown ticks not in conference rooms, but in the cramped bedrooms of 75 million
young Pakistanis scrolling job ads by phone light
Amid state failure, digital entrepreneurship offers oxygen. Pakistan ranks fourth globally in freelance work, generating $400 million annually as part of its broader $2.6 billion IT exports — a figure the government celebrates but which remains dwarfed by India’s $227 billion tech industry. Comparatively, while India dominates IT services, Pakistan excels in micro-freelancing — graphic design ($8/hr vs India’s $15), content writing, and digital marketing. Yet this freelance contribution — 15% of Pakistan’s total IT exports — operates in a policy vacuum, with no state strategy to leverage its potential.
However, cracks emerge. Shehryar Ahmed, 24, earns $1,200 a month designing logos but fears burnout. “No health insurance. No pension. One algorithm change can end this.” Rural exclusion is another barrier. Only 28% of villages have 4G access. Tech hubs like Karachi’s “Freelance Street” feel galaxies away from Balochistan’s towns. Meanwhile, the state’s focus remains on chasing unrealistic export targets — like the $15 billion IT goal by 2029 — while ignoring foundational reforms that could stabilise the freelance engine already driving 31% of the sector’s current earnings.
Grassroots reformers shine, but they fight distorted reflections. Organisations like Teach For Pakistan place graduates in underserved schools, while the EdTech Foundation offers AI courses to 50,000 slum youth annually. Yet traditional student unions, such as the IJT at Punjab University, demand patronage jobs for loyalists rather than systemic change. Underground groups like Al-Baidar, recently banned, recruit unemployed graduates on campuses with promises of “purpose” and stipends.
The result is a generation splintering between those coding apps to track clean water and those planting IEDs to avenge drone strikes. The state’s failure to engage youth constructively has turned them into misguided missiles, a phenomenon exacerbated by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which has manipulated youth discontent for political gain rather than genuine reform.
The brain drain is a critical aspect of Pakistan’s youth crisis. An estimated 1.5 million Pakistanis emigrated in 2022 alone, seeking better opportunities abroad. This exodus is not just a loss of talent; it is a catastrophic failure of the state to provide a viable future for its youth. Countries like India and Bangladesh have successfully leveraged their diasporas to become regional powers. The Indian diaspora, for instance, has contributed significantly to the country’s economy, with remittances reaching $87 billion in 2021. In contrast, Pakistan’s diaspora remains underutilised, with many young professionals feeling compelled to leave rather than contribute to a system that offers little in return.
Pakistan’s tech potential is real but unequal. Startups raised $350 million in 2023, and platforms like DigiSkills.pk trained 2.5 million in digital literacy. However, regional gaps persist. Bangladesh’s fibre-optic coverage reaches 80 percent of sub-districts, while Pakistan’s Balochistan has just 9 percent internet penetration. Innovation often emerges from scarcity, as seen in Karachi’s “MakerSpace”, which engineers solar-powered tractors for farmers without grid access.
Band-aid solutions won’t defuse the bomb. Pakistan needs comprehensive reforms. The government must triple vocational training centres and mandate coding in public schools, following Bangladesh’s model of 5,000 Digital Centres. Job market reform is essential, including banning public sector bribery via blockchain hiring and offering tax breaks for youth-led startups, inspired by India’s Startup India seed funding. Inclusive governance is also crucial, with a proposal to reserve 30 percent of provincial assembly seats for under-40 candidates, similar to Nepal’s youth parliament quotas.
Pakistan’s youth stand at a crossroads. One path leads toward becoming the engine of a $1 trillion economy, while the other descends into destabilising fury. This isn’t fate; it’s a policy choice. The state must pivot from seeing youth as threats to recognising them as shareholders. As Ayesha Rahman puts it, “We aren’t bombs. We’re batteries desperate to power something, anything, before our charge runs out.”
The countdown ticks not in conference rooms, but in the cramped bedrooms of 75 million young Pakistanis scrolling job ads by phone light. Their patience, like the state’s excuses, is running out. If Pakistan continues to neglect its youth, it risks not only losing a generation but also the very foundation of its future. The world must pay attention, for the fate of Pakistan’s youth is not just a national issue; it is a global concern that could reverberate far beyond its borders.__Courtesy The Friday Times Pakistan
Read more on voiceofvienna.org
