Pakistan

Consumption Patterns in Urban Pakistan

Soft Launch of the Research on 3rd August 2022, in Islamabad

A recurring issue when studying any kind of consumption patterns in Pakistan is the lack of concrete, well put together data (Elahi., 2008). This is in stark contrast to the amount of datasets available, of which there are many. The main issue, when working with Pakistani, or indeed South Asian data in general, is the need to synthesize data sources through means beyond just standard joins. In particular, much individual-level information can be gleaned through a combination of large scale, open source data, and smaller scale surveys. In this paper, we demonstrate a method for estimating demand or consumption of specific goods at fine geospatial resolutions. We attempt to provide a baseline model which we hope will become the basis of a much more complex model for understanding consumption patterns in urban centres in Pakistan at a much more granular level.