The United Nations has reported that about 113 million Nigerians, representing 48.7 per cent of the country’s population, experience multidimensional poverty, marked by deprivation in health, education and living standards.
The figure was contained in the 2026 edition of the annual report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), released on Monday.
According to the report, the average poor Nigerian experiences deprivation in 55 per cent of the indicators used to measure poverty, while 28.7 per cent of Nigerians are classified as severely poor.
The report also indicated that progress recorded between 2018 and 2021 had been reversed.
It stated that the proportion of people living in poverty fell from 42.3 per cent in 2013 to 33 per cent in 2021 before rising to 38.7 per cent in 2024.
“That is nearly 18 million more poor people: three-quarters from a higher rate, one quarter from population growth,” the report stated.
Poverty Concentrated in Rural Areas and Northern Nigeria
The report identified rural communities and northern Nigeria as areas with the highest levels of multidimensional poverty.
It found that 68.9 per cent of rural Nigerians were poor, compared with 24.8 per cent of people living in urban areas.
Severe poverty was also significantly more prevalent in rural communities, affecting 45.1 per cent of residents, compared with 9.3 per cent in towns.
The report identified the North-West and North-East as the regions bearing the heaviest burden of poverty.
The findings highlight persistent disparities in access to essential services and basic living conditions across the country.
Clean Cooking and Electricity Identified as Major Gaps
The report identified access to clean cooking fuel and electricity as two of Nigeria’s biggest multidimensional poverty challenges.
It stated that 47.4 per cent of Nigerians were poor and lacked clean cooking fuel, while 37.6 per cent were poor and lacked electricity.
“These are gaps that policy knows how to close,” the UN noted.
The findings point to the importance of expanding access to essential household services as part of efforts to address deprivation.
Global Multidimensional Poverty Reaches 1.2 Billion
Globally, the report found that the number of people living in acute multidimensional poverty had reached 1.2 billion, marking the first increase in the global poverty index since its creation in 2010.
The 2026 edition recorded 51.5 million more people living in acute poverty than in the previous year.
UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo described the increase as a wake-up call for the international community.
“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.
Children accounted for more than half of those living in acute poverty, according to the report.
However, the UNDP cautioned that population growth was a major factor in the increase in the number of people affected. It also noted that new data were available for only 13 of the 108 developing countries covered by the report.
Despite the global increase, the report highlighted progress in several countries. It found that 33 nations had halved the proportion of their populations living in poverty, as measured by the index, over the previous 15 years.
Six of those countries were in sub-Saharan Africa.
The UNDP also identified China and Vietnam among the countries in Asia that had made rapid progress in reducing multidimensional poverty.
