Electricity and gas prices and rising national debt top Pakistanis’ concerns, according to the National Citizen Survey 2026 (Express Tribune).
The method
Conducted by IPOR and PILDAT: 5,155 voting-age citizens, face-to-face in-home interviews between 23 August and 5 September, across all four provinces, rural and urban. Margin of error ±1.55 percent.
That is a serious sample and a disclosed methodology, which is worth saying because many published Pakistani surveys are neither.
The findings
| | | |—|—| | Biggest national problem: electricity and gas prices | 19pc | | Biggest national problem: fuel and petrol prices | 10pc | | Concerned about rising national debt | 66pc | | — of whom, “extremely concerning” | 49pc | | Positive about the debt situation | 5pc | | Rising drug use “extremely dangerous” | 79pc | | Difficult to start and run a business | 91pc — taxation the main barrier |
Trust in institutions
| | Complete trust | |—|—| | FIA | 33pc | | NAB | 23pc | | Parliament | 15pc |
The number that should worry the political class
Fifteen percent complete trust in Parliament, well below two accountability agencies neither of which is elected.
That sits directly alongside this month’s arguments about where decisions belong. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on 9 September that the debate on new provinces “should be discussed in Parliament by the people’s elected representatives”. The survey suggests the institution he is directing business toward commands the confidence of about one citizen in seven.
The timing of the fieldwork
Interviews ran to 5 September — two days before petrol began rising, and before it climbed Rs34.37 in nine days. The 10 percent naming fuel prices as the country’s biggest problem did so before any of that.
What is not established
The full questionnaire and weighting have not been published in the reporting, and no trend comparison against previous years was given. The 91 percent business figure is not broken down by size or sector.
[Image: The Express Tribune]
