Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate rose to 38.7 per cent as 17.9m citizens battle deprivation - UN

Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate rose to 38.7 per cent in 2024 from 33 per cent in 2021, reversing earlier progress, according to the United Nations Development Programme. The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report, released on Monday and produced jointly with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, estimated that 90.1 million Nigerians were multidimensionally poor in 2024, compared with 72.2 million in 2021.

The increase of 17.9 million was the largest recorded among the five countries where the number of people living in multidimensional poverty rose over their latest measurement periods. The other countries were Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Guinea and Kyrgyzstan. Nigeria’s MPI value increased from 0.175 in 2021 to 0.208 in 2024, reflecting a rise in the combined incidence and intensity of deprivation. The intensity of deprivation among those classified as poor also increased from 52.9 per cent to 53.6 per cent.

The report clarified that Nigeria’s latest figures were based on household survey data collected in 2024 and did not constitute a direct measurement of poverty in 2026. Unlike measures based on income or expenditure, the global MPI assesses overlapping disadvantages across health, education and living standards.

Its 10 indicators cover nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing and household assets. A person is classified as multidimensionally poor when their household experiences deprivation in at least one-third of the weighted indicators. Nigeria had previously recorded steady improvements. Its MPI value fell from 0.230 in 2013 to 0.202 in 2018 and 0.175 in 2021 before the latest increase.

The proportion of people living in multidimensional poverty similarly declined from 42.3 per cent in 2013 to 37.2 per cent in 2018 and 33 per cent in 2021, before rising to 38.7 per cent in 2024. The number affected fell from 76.3 million in 2018 to 72.2 million in 2021, but subsequently increased to 90.1 million. The report also highlighted substantial geographical disparities, with poverty incidence ranging from 3.7 per cent to 88.3 per cent across the Nigerian subnational regions examined.

It compared Yobe and Sokoto, which had similar MPI values, to illustrate how communities with comparable overall poverty levels could experience different forms of deprivation. Such differences, it said, demonstrated the importance of examining individual indicators alongside aggregate figures. Globally, the report estimated that 1.2 billion people across 108 countries lived in acute multidimensional poverty, representing 18.9 per cent of the 6.3 billion people covered by the index.

Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest regional poverty rate, with 616 million people, or 51.4 per cent of its population, classified as multidimensionally poor. The region accounted for more than half of the global total. South Asia followed, with 393 million people living in multidimensional poverty. The burden was concentrated in rural communities, where approximately 998 million multidimensionally poor people lived, accounting for 83.3 per cent of the global total. About 200 million lived in urban areas.

Poverty incidence stood at 28.7 per cent in rural areas, compared with seven per cent in urban areas. Children were disproportionately affected. Those under 18 accounted for 617 million people, or 51.5 per cent of the world’s multidimensionally poor population. Approximately one in three children lived in multidimensional poverty, compared with one in seven adults. In sub-Saharan Africa, 355 million children were affected, representing 57.7 per cent of the region’s poor population.

The report said the estimated global number of multidimensionally poor people increased for the first time since the index was launched in 2010. The latest total was 51.5 million higher than the previous update. Of those classified as poor, 534 million, or 44.6 per cent, experienced severe poverty, meaning they were deprived in at least half of the weighted indicators.

Another 952 million people were considered vulnerable to multidimensional poverty, experiencing substantial deprivation without reaching the threshold for classification as poor. Despite the increase, the report highlighted evidence of progress. Among 89 countries with comparable data over time, 33 had reduced their MPI values by at least half in fewer than 15 years, including six in sub-Saharan Africa.

The findings relate to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of halving, by 2030, the proportion of men, women and children living in poverty in all its dimensions. The report called for renewed efforts to address overlapping deprivations while emphasising that substantial reductions in multidimensional poverty remained achievable.