An additional 17.9 million Nigerians fell into multidimensional poverty between 2021 and 2024, the highest increase recorded by any country globally, according to a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), published on Monday, showed that Nigeria’s progress in reducing poverty between 2018 and 2021 was reversed in the subsequent three-year period, with millions more people experiencing overlapping deprivations in basic necessities.
Nigeria recorded a significantly higher increase than Afghanistan, where an additional 5.3 million people fell into multidimensional poverty during the country’s 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 place 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 highlights the scale of Nigeria’s poverty challenge, particularly as rising living costs, food insecurity and inadequate access to essential services continue to put pressure on households. It also raises concerns about the sustainability of previous gains in poverty reduction and the country’s progress towards the United Nations’ target of significantly reducing poverty by 2030.
Poverty rate rises to 38.7%
The report’s harmonised historical comparison showed that Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate rose from 33 per cent in 2021 to 38.7 per cent in 2024, an increase of 5.7 percentage points.
The number of people affected increased from 72.21 million to 90.07 million over the period, while the country’s Multidimensional Poverty Index value rose from 0.175 to 0.208, indicating worsening deprivation.
However, a separate national estimate for 2024 put the number of Nigerians living in multidimensional poverty at 113.32 million, representing 48.7 per cent of the population.
The report explained that the higher figure was based on the latest survey without the adjustments applied to the harmonised historical comparison. The two estimates therefore reflect different approaches to measuring poverty and should not be treated as directly interchangeable.
It also found 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.
What multidimensional poverty means
Unlike conventional poverty measures that focus primarily on income or expenditure, the Global MPI assesses poverty by examining overlapping disadvantages in health, education and living standards.
Its indicators include nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, access to electricity, drinking water, sanitation, housing and basic household assets.
Under the methodology, a person is classified as multidimensionally poor when they experience deprivation in at least one-third of the weighted indicators.
The approach captures forms of hardship that income-based measurements may not fully reflect. For instance, a household may earn some income but still lack clean water, adequate sanitation, electricity or access to education and healthcare.
The index is designed to help governments identify not only how many people are poor but also the nature and severity of the disadvantages they face, providing a basis for more targeted policies and interventions.
Northern states face heavier poverty burdens
At the subnational level, the report found substantial differences in the extent and causes of multidimensional poverty across Nigerian states.
Kebbi, Yobe and Sokoto were among the states with the highest multidimensional poverty burdens, while Lagos recorded the lowest MPI value.
The findings also showed that states with similarly high poverty levels could face different underlying challenges.
In Yobe, nutrition and child mortality contributed more significantly to deprivation, while inadequate access to water and electricity were stronger contributors in Sokoto.
The report said identifying such differences was essential to designing interventions that address the specific needs of affected communities rather than relying on a uniform approach to poverty reduction.
The findings point to the importance of improving basic services, including healthcare, education, electricity, water and sanitation, particularly in communities where several forms of deprivation occur simultaneously.
Africa accounts for more than half of global poverty
Globally, the report estimated that 1.2 billion people, representing 18.9 per cent of the population covered by the index, lived in acute multidimensional poverty.
Of these, 534 million experienced severe poverty, while another 952 million people were classified as vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 616 million people living in multidimensional poverty, representing more than half of the global total.
Children bore a disproportionate share of the burden, with 617 million people below the age of 18 classified as multidimensionally poor worldwide.
“Roughly one in every three children is multidimensionally poor, compared to one in seven adults,” the report stated.
The findings underscore the disproportionate impact of poverty on children, particularly in households where inadequate nutrition, poor living conditions and limited access to education and healthcare reinforce one another.
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