DUSHANBE, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Tajikistan's national poverty rate fell from 56 percent in 2010 to approximately 20 percent in 2024, according to a World Bank report released Monday.

Over the same period, the share of the middle class in the country more than quadrupled, rising from 8 percent to 33 percent of the population, said the Tajikistan Poverty and Equity Assessment.

The report highlights strong upward mobility in recent years, with 35 percent of households moving into the middle class between 2021 and 2023. These gains are consistent with Tajikistan's National Development Strategy 2030, which aims to raise the middle class to 50 percent of the population and reduce poverty to below 10 percent.

However, the report notes that the country's domestic labor market has not generated enough jobs to sustain this expansion.

Recent improvements have been driven more by wage growth in existing jobs and external factors such as remittances than by new job creation. This model is unsustainable and leads to income gaps, especially in rural areas, according to the report.

The report also points to low labor force participation as a constraint on economic opportunities.

"As of 2022, the overall labor force participation rate was only 40 percent of the working-age population -- the lowest in Central Asia and among lower middle-income countries. The situation is even more concerning for women: female labor force participation -- at 21 percent -- is lagging 39 percentage points behind men's," the report added. ■