01
From the editorEditor's letter
The freedom to count
Why Adaad exists, what it promises each month, and the modest freedom it adds: data free to check, to question and to reuse.
Built from
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Volume 1 · Issue 1
Contents
Six pieces, nine datasets, one interactive map. Everything in this issue ships with the file it was built from.
02
EconomyThe big read
Growth without an engine
Export-led growth is the right ambition, but the engine that will deliver it never gets built. Two new household surveys show why.
Built from
Federal budget 2026-27; LFS 2024-25; HIES 2024-25; PBS national accounts
gdp_growth.csv
03
WorkforceFeature
Counting women in
Female participation in the labour force has climbed three points in four years. Some of that is women going to work; some is the count finally finding them. Neither, yet, is the kind of work that makes the economy more productive.
Built from
LFS 2024-25 v 2020-21; LFS 2020-21 district tables; Census 2023
lfpr_districts_2020_21.csv
04
TradePlotline
Pakistan's biggest export is Pakistanis
Goods exports and remittances tracked each other from 2018 to 2024. Then they diverged: exports stood still but remittances did not.
Built from
SBP balance of payments; PBS trade statistics
plotline.csv
05
PovertyMethod Notebook
Separating signal from noise
Night-time lights promise poverty measurement at any resolution. Information theory — explained here — says when more granular data means more, and when it is only noise.
Built from
VIIRS night lights; Meta Relative Wealth Index; PSLM district MPI — via Data Darbar; Shannon (1948)
lights_tehsils.csv
06
ReferenceDistrict profile
District profile: Rajanpur
Every indicator in this issue for one district, set against its province and the country.
Built from
Census 2023; LFS 2020-21 district tables; PSLM MPI; Adaad estimates
lfpr_districts_2020_21.csv
Interactive data
Data Darbar
Every figure in this issue can be traced to a district-level indicator in the explorer.