Nigeria Records World’s Highest Rise In Multidimensional Poverty As 17.9m Sink Into Hardship

An additional 17.9 million Nigerians fell into multidimensional poverty between 2021 and 2024, the highest increase recorded by any country globally, a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) has revealed.

The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), published on Monday, showed that Nigeria’s earlier progress in reducing poverty between 2018 and 2021 was reversed within the subsequent three years, leaving millions more people struggling with overlapping deprivations in healthcare, education and basic living conditions.

According to the report, Nigeria recorded a significantly higher increase in the number of people affected than Afghanistan, where an additional 5.3 million people fell into multidimensional poverty during its latest assessment period.

“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 report stated.

The findings placed Nigeria among five countries that recorded increases in multidimensional poverty during their respective assessment periods, alongside Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Guinea and Kyrgyzstan.

The development raises fresh concerns about the country’s poverty reduction efforts amid persistent economic pressures, rising living costs, food insecurity and inadequate access to essential public services.

It also poses a significant challenge to Nigeria’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty in all its forms by 2030.

The report’s harmonised historical comparison showed that Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate increased from 33 per cent in 2021 to 38.7 per cent in 2024, representing a rise of 5.7 percentage points.

The number of people affected also increased from 72.21 million to 90.07 million within the period, while the country’s Multidimensional Poverty Index value rose from 0.175 to 0.208, indicating worsening deprivation.

The report explained that the higher figure was derived from the latest survey without the adjustments applied to the harmonised historical comparison.

The two figures, therefore, reflect different measurement approaches and should not be treated as directly interchangeable.

It further disclosed that 28.7 per cent of Nigerians experienced severe multidimensional poverty, while another 18.1 per cent were vulnerable to falling into multidimensional poverty.

“In Nigeria, poverty incidence declined from 2018–2021, then increased from 2021–2024,” the report stated.

The figures highlight the scale of deprivation across the country and the vulnerability of millions of households to worsening living conditions.

The report also found that states with similarly high poverty levels faced different underlying challenges, underscoring the need for state-specific interventions.

In Yobe, nutrition and child mortality contributed more significantly to deprivation, while inadequate access to water and electricity were stronger contributors in Sokoto.

The findings suggest that a uniform approach to poverty reduction may not adequately address the distinct challenges confronting communities across the country.

Instead, the report highlighted the importance of improving access to basic services, including healthcare, education, electricity, safe drinking water and sanitation, particularly in communities where multiple forms of deprivation occur simultaneously.

For Nigeria, the findings point to the need for interventions that address the root causes of poverty rather than relying exclusively on income support or other isolated measures

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