What Does Pakistan's New Prime Minister Imran Khan Mean for Poverty and Inequality?

• Imran Khan of Pakistan came to power in July vowing to fight inequalities such as reliable access to food, water, sanitation, electricity, jobs, and much more, as they still remain out of reach for millions of people in the country. This Global Citizen piece examines expectations for his tenure.

• Will the new government in Pakistan expand partnerships with international aid organizations and other outside groups to address major problems in the region? This is something the development sector should keep an eye on.

Imran Khan, celebrated cricket star and longtime political outsider, was elected as the new prime minister of Pakistan in July.

Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world, with a population of 193.2 million, and roughly four in 10 people live in “multidimensional poverty,” a metric that takes into consideration wealth, health, education, and access to things like water and sanitation.

The high rate of poverty contributes to the fact that 60% of people struggle to get food in Pakistan and 3.8 million children are forced into labor, according to the nonprofit the Borgen Institute. [Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran] Khan has vowed to fight poverty by expanding the welfare state and improving access to basic human rights.

"Farmers are not paid for their hard work, 25 million children are out of school, our women continue to die in childbirth because we can't give them basic healthcare, we can't give the people clean drinking water,” he said in his victory speech. “A country is not recognised by the lifestyle of the rich, but by the lifestyle of the poor. No country that has an island of rich people and a sea of poor people can prosper.”

He went on to say that he will improve transparency in the tax system, improve government spending, and bolster government institutions.

He also vowed to go after corruption, which has reached the highest levels of government, including the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was revealed to have siphoned millions of dollars from the country’s coffers.