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Bloomberg
Pakistan’s burgeoning youth and their freewheeling attitude towards rising incomes have turned the nation into the world’s fastest growing retail market.
The market is predicted to expand 8.2 percent per annum through 2016-2021 as disposable income has doubled since 2010, according to Euromonitor International. The size of the middle class is estimated to surpass that of the UK and Italy in the forecast period, it said. Pakistan’s improving security environment, economic expansion at near 5 percent and cheap consumer prices are driving shoppers to spend up big. Almost two-thirds of the nation’s 207.8 million people are aged under 30, according to the Jinnah Institute, a think tank. Pakistan’s retail stores are expected to increase by 50 percent to 1 million outlets in the five years through 2021, Euromonitor said.