—report reveals 17.9m Nigerians slipped into multidimensional poverty between 2021 and 2024.
—Kebbi, Yobe, Sokoto record highest burdens as Utomi warns of growing inequality.
Nigeria recorded the world’s largest increase in the number of people living in multidimensional poverty, with an additional 17.9 million Nigerians falling into poverty between 2021 and 2024, according to the 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index.
The report, published on Monday by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, showed that Nigeria experienced a reversal in poverty reduction after recording improvements between 2018 and 2021.
The findings placed Nigeria ahead of Afghanistan, which recorded an increase of 5.3 million poor people during its latest assessment period.
The report stated, “In absolute terms, the largest increase in the number of poor people is seen in Nigeria, where although poverty had decreased in the previous period (2018–2021), in the recent period (2021–2024), 17.9 million people became multidimensionally poor, followed by 5.3 million in Afghanistan.”
The development means that Nigeria accounted for the largest absolute deterioration in multidimensional poverty among countries with comparable data, raising concerns about worsening living conditions and setbacks in poverty reduction.
The report identified Nigeria among five countries that experienced increases in multidimensional poverty during their respective assessment periods, alongside Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Guinea, and Kyrgyzstan.
The findings are particularly significant because multidimensional poverty measures deprivation beyond income, including access to education, healthcare, electricity, drinking water, sanitation, adequate housing, and nutrition. Unlike monetary poverty estimates, which assess income or consumption, the Multidimensional Poverty Index examines overlapping disadvantages affecting households.
Further analysis of the report’s harmonised poverty trends showed that Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate rose from 33.0 per cent in 2021 to 38.7 per cent in 2024, representing an increase of 5.7 percentage points. The number of affected Nigerians increased from 72.21 million to 90.07 million over the period, while the country’s MPI value rose from 0.175 to 0.208, indicating a deterioration in overall deprivation.
A separate 2024 national estimate put the number of multidimensionally poor Nigerians at 113.32 million, representing 48.7 per cent of the population. Furthermore, 28.7 per cent of Nigerians experienced severe multidimensional poverty, while another 18.1 per cent remained vulnerable.
Across Nigeria’s states, the findings revealed substantial differences. Kebbi, Yobe, and Sokoto recorded the highest multidimensional poverty burdens, while Lagos recorded the lowest MPI value.
Globally, the report estimated that 1.2 billion people—representing 18.9 per cent of the population covered by the index—lived in acute multidimensional poverty, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for the largest concentration at 616 million poor people. Children under 18 bore a disproportionate burden, accounting for 617 million of the global total.
Reacting to the worsening economic climate, a Professor of Political Economy, Pat Utomi, recently warned that rising poverty, hunger, and insecurity are pushing Nigerians to the brink. He urged citizens to resist the erosion of democratic values, noting that growing inequality between wealthy politicians and impoverished citizens threatens national stability.
