Nigeria recorded the world’s largest increase in the number of people living in multidimensional poverty, with an additional 17.9 million Nigerians falling into poverty between 2021 and 2024, according to the 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index.
The report, published on Monday by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, showed that Nigeria experienced a reversal in poverty reduction after recording improvements between 2018 and 2021.
The findings placed Nigeria ahead of Afghanistan, which recorded an increase of 5.3 million poor people during its latest assessment period.
The report stated, “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 development means that Nigeria accounted for the largest absolute deterioration in multidimensional poverty among countries with comparable data, raising concerns about worsening living conditions and setbacks in poverty reduction.
The report identified Nigeria among five countries that experienced increases in multidimensional poverty during their respective assessment periods.
It stated, “In contrast, five countries reported increases in multidimensional poverty. These are Afghanistan (2015/16–2022/23), Central African Republic (2010–2018/19), Guinea (2016–2018), Kyrgyzstan (2018–2023) and Nigeria (2021–2024).”
