The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that 63% of people living in Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor.
This is according to a press release issued by NBS on Thursday about highlights of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey result.
According to the report, more than half of Nigeria’s population is multidimensionally poor, and multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas, where 72% of people are poor, compared to 42% of people in urban areas. .
Highlights of the report: TThe report also revealed that the National MPI is 0.257, indicating that poor people in Nigeria experience just over a quarter of all possible deprivations.
- 65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (almost 47 million) live in the South. Poverty levels between states vary significantly, with multidimensional poverty incidence ranging from a low of 27% in Ondo to a high of 91% in Sokoto.
- More than half of Nigeria’s population is multidimensionally poor and cooks with dung, wood or charcoal, instead of clean energy. Large deficiencies also appeared at the national level in sanitation, time for medical attention, food insecurity and housing.
- In general, the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty in most states. In Nigeria, 40.1% of people are poor based on the 2018/19 National Monetary Poverty Line, and 63% are multidimensionally poor based on the 2022 National MPI.
- Multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas, where 72% of people are poor, compared to 42% of people in urban areas.
- The national MPI is reported with a linked child MPI, which provides additional information on multidimensional child poverty in Nigeria.
According to the report, two-thirds (67.5%) of children (0–17) are multidimensionally poor, according to the National MPI, and just over half (51%) of all poor people are children.