Social Development Ranking of Districts of Pakistan

The paper has used eleven indicators relating to the education, health and water supply sectors to rank districts of Pakistan in terms of the level of social development. It also seeks to explain regional variation in the development of social infrastructure across districts. The paper demonstrates the importance of education indicators in determining the overall level of social development, especially in terms of female literacy and enrolment rates. Also, the ranking demonstrate a close correlation between levels of social and economic development spatially with Pakistan. Other important determinants of regional variations in the level of social development include the extent of urbanisation, the administrative development of the district (location of provincial headquarters), and the geographical/economic significance (indicated by the presence of the sea port). Overall, Punjab appears to have the highest level of social development followed by NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan. However, the results indicate substantial variation among districts within a province in the level of social development. Least developed districts within each province are identified as targets for special development allocations within SAP.