Every year, the Business & Finance team runs a survey on Dawn.com to touch base with the everyman and get a sense if they are economically better or worse than the year before.

This year’s survey took us to the ‘hearth and home’ with results showing a steady rise in kitchen expenses over the past five years — about 61pc of respondents recorded monthly expenses over Rs40,000 in FY24. Given these high costs, it’s safe to say: living in Pakistan on a single wage is getting to be extremely difficult.

Utilities have gone up significantly this past year, with 61pc respondents spending over Rs30,000. Utility costs have been increasing at a faster rate — courtesy of the government’s several fuel cost adjustments — in the past three years.

Miraculously, transport seems to be no worse off now than before, with 40pc of respondents spending over Rs30,000. One might consider it’s due to the government’s public transport efforts until you consider how high costs have gotten in just a few years due to rising fuel prices.

Roughly 54pc respondents agree that the environment needs attention. Now, perhaps the crippling weight of exorbitant fuel costs are pushing people to look for alternatives or the memory of the 2022 floods has them genuinely concerned about global warming; regardless, environmental protection is now a significant goal for Pakistanis.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 17th, 2024