17.9m Affected as Nigeria Records World’s Highest Rise in Multidimensional Poverty

Between 2021 and 2024, an additional 17.9 million Nigerians fell into multidimensional poverty, marking the world's highest increase in such poverty according to a report by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. This surge reversed Nigeria's progress in poverty reduction from 2018 to 2021, with the number of affected people rising from 72.21 million to 90.07 million, and the Multidimensional Poverty Index value increasing from 0.175 to 0.208.

The country's poverty rate climbed from 33% in 2021 to 38.7% in 2024, encompassing 90.07 million people. Nigeria's situation is more severe than Afghanistan's, where 5.3 million people became multidimensionally poor during the same period. Unlike conventional poverty measures that focus solely on income, the Global MPI examines overlapping deprivations in health, education, and living standards.

A person is considered multidimensionally poor if they face deprivation in at least one-third of the weighted indicators, including nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, access to electricity, drinking water, sanitation, housing, and basic household assets. The index highlights the nature and severity of the disadvantages faced by the poor, aiding governments in formulating targeted policies and interventions.

The report also noted that northern Nigerian states bore a heavier burden of multidimensional poverty compared to others.