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About 113 million Nigerians, representing 48.7 percent of the country’s population, are deprived of health, education and living standards, according to the 2026 edition of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index released on Monday.
The report, published by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, said the average poor Nigerian lacks 55 percent of health, education and living standards, while 28.7 percent are classified as “severely poor.”
The report said progress made between 2018 and 2021 had been reversed.
“Like for like, the share poor fell from 42.3% in 2013 to 33.0% in 2021, then rose to 38.7% in 2024. That is nearly 18 million more poor people: three-quarters from a higher rate, one quarter from population growth,” it stated.
Poverty is highest in northern Nigeria, with 68.9 percent of rural residents poor compared with 24.8 percent in urban areas.
Severe poverty is five times higher in villages, at 45.1 percent against 9.3 percent in towns.
Clean cooking fuel and electricity were identified as the largest poverty gaps.
The report said 47.4 percent of Nigerians are poor and lack clean cooking fuel, while 37.6 percent are poor and lack electricity.
“These are gaps that policy knows how to close,” the UN said.
Globally, the index rose for the first time since its creation in 2010, bringing the number of people affected to 1.2 billion.
The report counted 51.5 million more people in “acute” poverty compared with the previous year.
UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo described the increase as a “wake-up call for the world.”
“Behind these figures are 1.2 billion people facing hardships that reinforce one another: hunger, missed schooling and a lack of clean water or electricity. This is unacceptable,” he said in a press release.
More than half of those in acute poverty were children.
The UNDP said population growth was a major factor in the increase, and new data was available for only 13 of the 108 developing countries covered.
Despite the overall rise, the report offered a mixed picture: 33 nations had halved the percentage of their people living in poverty over the past 15 years, including six countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
China and Vietnam were among those making the fastest progress.
