Nearly 83 per cent of Nigerians without formal education are living in poverty, according to the World Bank, highlighting the widening economic divide between educated and uneducated citizens.
An analysis of the World Bank’s October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief for Nigeria showed that 82.9 per cent of Nigerians aged 16 and above without education lived below the poverty threshold of $4.20 per person per day, compared with 26.6 per cent of those with tertiary or post-secondary education.
The figures, based on a 2022 household survey, revealed a poverty gap of 56.3 percentage points between individuals without education and those who attained higher education, underscoring the relationship between educational attainment and living standards.
Sunday PUNCH observed that poverty declined progressively as educational attainment increased, with 60.9 per cent of Nigerians who completed primary education living below the poverty line, compared with 51.6 per cent of those with secondary education.
This means that Nigerians without formal education were more than three times as likely to live in poverty as those with tertiary qualifications.
The analysis further showed that the poverty rate among individuals without education exceeded that of primary school graduates by 22 percentage points, while the difference between those with secondary and tertiary education stood at 25 percentage points.
However, the findings indicated that educational attainment did not guarantee financial security, as more than half of Nigerians with secondary education and over one-quarter of those with tertiary qualifications remained poor.
Beyond education, the report showed that children faced the highest poverty burden, with 73 per cent of Nigerians aged between zero and 14 years living below the $4.20 daily threshold.
This compared with 58.1 per cent among working-age Nigerians between 15 and 64 years and 47.1 per cent among those aged 65 years and above.
The figures also revealed a marginal gender disparity, with 64.3 per cent of females living in poverty compared with 63.7 per cent of males.
On educational deprivation, the World Bank reported that 19.4 per cent of Nigerians lived in households where no adult had completed primary education, while seven per cent lived in households with at least one school-aged child who was not enrolled in school.
The report further showed that 41.5 per cent of Nigerians lacked access to electricity, 34 per cent lacked limited-standard sanitation facilities, and 21.5 per cent lacked limited-standard drinking water.
The findings came as the World Bank estimated that Nigeria’s national poverty rate had risen from 40.1 per cent in 2019 to 56.2 per cent in 2023 and 63 per cent in 2026.
The bank stated, “This trend extended beyond monetary poverty, with multidimensional poverty increasing from 43.5 percent to 47.4 percent between 2019 and 2023, reflecting both rising monetary poverty and worsening access to basic infrastructure and essential services.”
The report also highlighted regional disparities, with poverty in northern Nigeria increasing from 44.7 per cent in 2019 to 57.4 per cent in 2023, compared with an increase from 14.9 per cent to 21.2 per cent in the South.
In a separate October 2026 Macro Poverty Outlook obtained by The PUNCH, the World Bank projected that 69.5 per cent of Nigerians would live below the $4.20 daily poverty threshold in 2026, marginally lower than the 69.6 per cent estimated for 2025.
The bank also estimated that 50.8 per cent of Nigerians would live in extreme poverty, defined as surviving on less than $3 daily, despite improvements in economic growth and inflation.
It noted that employment remained concentrated in low-productivity sectors, with agriculture accounting for more than 30 per cent of jobs and informal retail services accounting for about 25 per cent.