113 million Nigerians are deprived of health, education, living standards —UN

•Says 90.1 million living in multidimensional poverty •Economy to grow by more than four percent in 2026 —Idris

An estimated 90.1 million Nigerians were living in multidimensional poverty in 2024, while about 113 million people experienced deprivations in health, education and living standards, according to figures cited in the 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

The report showed that Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate rose to 38.7 per cent in 2024, from 33 per cent in 2021, with the number of affected people increasing from 72.2 million to 90.1 million over the period.

The figures highlight the scale of deprivation facing Nigerians, particularly in access to essential services, education and basic living conditions.

The 2026 Global MPI statistical update covers 108 countries and 6.3 billion people worldwide. It found that 1.2 billion people, representing 18.9 per cent of the population covered, were living in acute multidimensional poverty.

The report explained that multidimensional poverty differs from income poverty because it measures overlapping disadvantages in health, education and living standards, rather than relying solely on income levels.

It added that 534 million people, representing 44.6 percent of those living in multidimensional poverty globally, were severely poor, experiencing deprivation in at least half of the weighted indicators used in the assessment.

Another 952 million people were considered vulnerable to multidimensional poverty because they experienced significant disadvantages across several indicators without crossing the threshold for classification as poor.

However, children accounted for 617 million, or 51.5 percent, of the world’s multidimensionally poor population. The report estimated that approximately one in every three children was affected, compared with one in seven adults.

Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the highest regional burden, with 616 million people living in multidimensional poverty, followed by South Asia with 393 million.

The report also found that 998 million, or 83.3 per cent, of the world’s multidimensionally poor people lived in rural areas, compared with 200 million in urban communities.

Lack of access to clean cooking fuel was identified as the most widespread deprivation globally, affecting more than one billion poor people. About 600 million of them lived in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The region also accounted for 81.2 per cent of poor people without electricity and 70.7 per cent of those deprived of access to drinking water.

In South Asia, major challenges included inadequate nutrition, poor housing and limited access to education. The report estimated that 150 million poor people in the region lived in households where a school-aged child was not attending school.

The assessment further showed that poverty was concentrated in particular communities within countries. Across 387 subnational regions in 41 countries, more than half of the population was multidimensionally poor.

Although these regions accounted for only 14.9 percent of the population covered by the assessment, they contained 642 million poor people, representing 53.6 per cent of the global total.

READ ALSO: FG targets five million Nigerians for poverty exit

The global MPI uses indicators including nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, housing, drinking water, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel and household assets to assess overlapping forms of deprivation.

Nigeria’s economy to grow above  four percent  in 2026- —Information minister

Meanwhile, also, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has said Nigeria’s economy is on course to grow by more than four percent  this year, with inflation declining to about 15 percent and external reserves rising above $54 billion.

Idris stated this on Monday in Abuja, at a media chat with senior editors and journalists at Radio House, where he highlighted the economic, security and social interventions of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

He said the government’s economic reforms were beginning to produce measurable results and create the foundation for sustained growth, while acknowledging that many households continued to face cost-of-living pressures.

According to him, the administration’s priority is to ensure that improved economic indicators translate into more jobs, productive businesses, affordable essential services and increased purchasing power for Nigerians.

“The macroeconomic numbers have turned the corner, and I would ask that we always look at what they mean beyond the headlines,” Idris said.

He disclosed that the economy was projected to grow by more than four percent in 2026, while Nigeria’s current account surplus increased from $8.6 billion in the first half of 2025 to $12 billion in the corresponding period of 2026.

The minister said inflation had fallen from about 27 per cent in January 2025 to around 15 per cent, although he stressed that the government’s ultimate target remained single-digit inflation.

Idris also said oil theft had declined while crude oil production had increased, generating more revenue for the federal, state and local governments.

He disclosed that Nigeria’s external reserves exceeded $54 billion in September, describing the figure as the highest in almost two decades.

He added that the foreign exchange market had stabilised, allowing businesses and investors to plan more confidently for the long term.

The minister further disclosed that Nigeria earned more than $6 billion from non-oil exports in 2025, the highest in the country’s history.

He said the earnings benefited businesses and entrepreneurs operating in agriculture, mining, petrochemicals, manufacturing, processing, transportation and logistics.

Idris, however, said the government’s task was to ensure that the macroeconomic recovery was increasingly reflected in the daily lives of Nigerians.

“Our task now is to ensure that this clear macroeconomic recovery is felt even more widely in the lives and households of Nigerians: on the dinner table, in shops and markets, at the petrol station, and in pockets and wallets,” he said.

The minister said infrastructure projects across the country were already creating economic opportunities for contractors, suppliers, engineers, artisans, transporters and food vendors.

He said the government’s four legacy projects covered about 3,000 kilometres across the six  zones, alongside hundreds of other road, rail, port, power, health and education projects.