Nigeria has surpassed Sudan, despite its ongoing conflict, to become the country with the highest number of malnourished children in Africa and the second highest globally, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The scary revelation was made on Monday by Nemat Hajeebhoy, Chief of Nutrition at UNICEF, during a media briefing on the 2025 lean season multisectoral response organised by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Nigeria has the highest number of malnourished children in Africa and the second in the world,” Hajeebhoy said, adding that an estimated 600,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition, with half at risk of developing severe acute malnutrition–a condition that could prove fatal without urgent intervention.
Backing the concerns, Serigne Loum, an official with the World Food Programme, noted that Nigeria also tops the list of African countries with the most food-insecure population.
The dire statistics come as OCHA launches a fresh appeal for funding to combat the growing food and nutrition crisis, especially in the country’s North-East region.
Trond Jensen, OCHA’s Head of Office, disclosed that the agency urgently needs $300 million, with $160 million specifically required to address food, nutrition, water, and sanitation emergencies.
“This is the absolute bare minimum that we are needing. Of course it’s a paradox and a dilemma that we are facing that whereas the need when it comes to severe acute malnutrition has doubled in the year, our ability to address those needs in some instances has halved,” Jensen said.
He urged Nigerian state governments and global donors to contribute towards the humanitarian response, which targets at least two million people.
Meanwhile, last year’s Global Hunger Index ranked Sudan as the most poverty-stricken nation, followed by Burundi, Somalia, and Yemen.
However, recent data from the World Bank’s April 2025 Africa’s Pulse report highlights Nigeria’s deepening economic woes, showing that the country now accounts for 19 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s extremely poor population—more than any other nation.
The Democratic Republic of Congo follows with 14 percent, Ethiopia nine percent, and Sudan six percent.
The World Bank has also warned of a worsening poverty crisis in Nigeria, predicting that even more citizens will slip below the poverty line by 2027.
