Islamabad: According to the Gallup Pakistan, Pakistan today trails India on GDP per capita, a headline indicator often used as shorthand for living standards. On paper, this would suggest that Pakistani households are significantly worse off. However, household asset ownership data tell a more nuanced story. Evidence from Pakistan’s Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES), benchmarked against comparable Indian household estimates, shows that Pakistani households match or exceed India in ownership of several everyday consumer durables, despite lower average incomes.
India continues to lead in television ownership (around 66%, compared to 50% in Pakistan), although Pakistan’s TV ownership was comparable to India’s as recently as 2019. In contrast, refrigerator ownership is higher in Pakistan (about 56%) than in India (around 50%). The largest gap appears in washing machines, owned by nearly 58% of Pakistani households compared to roughly 20% in India. Motorcycle ownership is similar in both countries (India ~55%, Pakistan ~53%), while car ownership remains low, with India holding only a small lead (~8% vs ~6%). These patterns suggest that, despite lower GDP per capita, Pakistani households historically placed greater emphasis on labour-saving domestic appliances, while Indian households invested more in entertainment assets and, later, automation.
The broader lesson is that GDP per capita does not translate mechanically into household living standards. Consumption choices, relative prices, infrastructure, gender roles, and historical preferences all shape how income is converted into daily welfare. Living standards, in short, are shaped by more than income alone.
This analysis was conducted and released by Gallup and Gilani Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. It draws on long-run household asset data from the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, covering the period 2000-2025, alongside comparable Indian household estimates.
Gilani Research Foundation is a not-for-profit public service project to provide social science research to students, academia, policymakers, and concerned citizens in Pakistan and across the globe.
Gilani Research Foundation is headed by Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani who pioneered the field of opinion polling in Pakistan and established Gallup Pakistan in 1980. Currently, Dr. Gilani, who holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has taught at leading universities in Pakistan and abroad, is Chairman of Gallup Pakistan.
Gallup Pakistan is not related to Gallup Inc. headquartered in Washington D.C. USA. We require that our surveys be credited fully as Gallup Pakistan (not Gallup or Gallup Poll). We disclaim any responsibility for surveys pertaining to Pakistani public opinion except those carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International Association.