Pakistan must generate up to 30 million jobs over the next decade to turn its growing youth population into an economic dividend, or risk rising instability and outward migration, World Bank President Ajay Banga has warned.
Speaking to Reuters during a visit to Karachi this week, Banga said Pakistan faces a “generational challenge” as millions of young people enter the workforce each year. The country needs to create 2.5 to 3 million jobs annually, he said, adding that failure to do so could fuel illegal migration and domestic unrest.
Pakistan is entering the implementation phase of a 10-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) agreed with the World Bank last year, while continuing efforts with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilise its economy. Despite these steps, Islamabad remains under pressure to deliver sustained growth and employment.
“We’re trying to move the bank group as a whole from the idea of projects to the idea of outcomes,” Banga said. “Job creation is the North Star.”
Under the CPF, the World Bank Group will commit around $4 billion annually in combined public and private financing, with about half expected to come from private-sector operations led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Banga said the reliance on private capital reflects Pakistan’s limited fiscal space and the fact that 90 per cent of jobs are created by the private sector.
Pakistan’s employment strategy, he said, rests on three pillars: investment in human and physical infrastructure, business-friendly regulatory reforms, and expanded access to financing and insurance, particularly for small businesses and farmers who typically lack bank credit.
Labour-intensive sectors such as infrastructure development, primary healthcare, tourism, and small-scale agriculture offer the greatest job-creation potential, Banga noted. Agriculture alone could account for around one-third of the jobs Pakistan needs to create by 2050.
He also pointed to Pakistan’s growing pool of freelancers as evidence of strong entrepreneurial potential, but said better access to capital, infrastructure and institutional support is needed to help them scale into job-creating enterprises.
The pressure is already evident in rising emigration. Nearly 4,000 doctors left Pakistan in 2025, the highest annual outflow on record, according to Gallup Pakistan data based on Bureau of Emigration figures, highlighting concerns over weak job prospects and poor working conditions.
Banga said fixing Pakistan’s power sector is the most urgent near-term priority, warning that losses and inefficiencies in electricity distribution have constrained growth despite improvements in generation capacity.
