Missiles over medicine: Pakistan hikes defence spending while health gets less than 1% of GDP

A police personnel stands guard as a a health worker administers polio drops to a child during a door-to-door poliovirus vaccination campaign at a slum area in Karachi on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)

Battered by soaring poverty and failing public services, Pakistan has announced a 20 per cent hike in its defence budget, even as its healthcare system remains starved, receiving less than 1 per cent of the country’s GDP. This decision comes amid stark economic constraints and follows Islamabad facing embarrassment at the hands of India in the recent military skirmish. However, at the same, it exposes a disturbing truth: Pakistan continues to choose missiles over medicine and jets over hospitals.

For the 2025-26 fiscal year, Pakistan has allocated Rs 2.55 trillion (approx. USD 9 billion) to its military, a 20 per cent jump from last year’s Rs 2.12 trillion. This surge coincides with an overall 7 per cent cut in government spending – yet military coffers swelled, even as everything else withered.

By stark contrast, healthcare languished with just Rs 925 billion (under 1 per cent of GDP) in the current fiscal year. Town after town, hospital beds gather dust while generals welcome fighter jets. This is more than poor prioritisation – it’s a national crime.

Despite its public debt soaring to a record-breaking PKR 76 trillion (Rs 23.1 trillion in Indian rupee or USD 269 billion), and servicing nearly 2 per cent of GDP in interest payments, Pakistan finds the money for arms.

The defence increase comes just months into an IMF-backed stabilisation effort targeting tough reforms. Still, healthcare defenders remain silent.

Pakistan spends more than 2 per cent of GDP on defence – acknowledged in official reports even as off-budget military pensions and procurement remain secretive. Meanwhile, health gets marginalised to 0.8–1.0 per cent of GDP—a fraction that can't fund basic needs.

With maternal mortality around 140 per 100,000, infant mortality over 50 per 1,000 live births, and life expectancy barely reaching the mid‑60s, Pakistan is collapsing under its public health deficit. Rural clinics operate without doctors, medications, or even electricity – yet fighter jets take priority.

In Pakistan, the doctor-to-patient ratio is significantly lower than the WHO's recommended ratio. The World Bank's data indicates that there are approximately 1.084 physicians per 1,000 people, which is equivalent to a 1:1300 ratio. This is considerably below the WHO's recommendation of 1:1000.

Pakistan’s defence-first fiscal equation isn’t accidental, it’s deliberate. The narrative of existential threat has become a smokescreen shielding opaque military deals and inflated arms contracts. Even during economic belt-tightening, the army’s pipeline remains full, funded by both state budgets and civilian spending masked as pensions or development projects.

Health watchdogs face blocked access. Efforts to fund clinics or vaccinate communities are routinely defunded in favour of hardware meant for foreign conflict.

Pakistan stands at a crossroads. It can continue worshipping war while denying its citizens basic dignity. Or it can demand accountability and shift priorities.