The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update report has revealed that over 129 million Nigerians are currently living in poverty, marking a sharp rise from 40.1 per cent in 2018 to 56 per cent in 2024.

The report, released on Thursday in Abuja, highlights how inflation and slow economic growth have pushed millions into hardship.

“With growth proving too slow to outpace inflation, poverty has risen sharply. Since 2018, the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty line is estimated to have risen sharply from 40.1 per cent to 56.0 per cent,” the World Bank stated.
According to the report, the economic downturn has been exacerbated by population growth, resulting in 129 million Nigerians living in poverty.

“This stark increase partly reflects Nigeria’s beleaguered growth record. Real GDP per capita has not recovered to the level it was at prior to the oil price-induced recession in 2016,” the bank added.

The COVID-19 pandemic further compounded the economic decline, with inflation eroding purchasing power across almost all goods and diminishing household incomes.“Growth is failing to outpace inflation: large increases in prices across almost all goods have diminished purchasing power,” the report noted.

The World Bank estimates that in 2023, over 115 million Nigerians were poor, and the number swelled to 129 million in 2024, meaning that 14 million more people have fallen into poverty in the past year.

The report attributes this surge to multiple shocks including inflation, poor economic management, and external factors like flooding and insecurity.

“Several shocks have contributed to this major increase… the COVID-19 recession, natural disasters such as flooding, growing insecurity, the high cost of the demonetisation policy in Q1 2023, high inflation, and low economic growth,” it said.

The report also pointed to previous policy missteps as exacerbating poverty levels, particularly inflation, which has eroded the purchasing power of urban households.

It explained, “Previous domestic policy missteps compounded the effects of the shocks, particularly rising inflation, eroding purchasing power, especially of urban households, and pushing many into poverty.”
In response to the crisis, the Nigerian government has ramped up cash transfer programmes to support vulnerable households, but the report emphasised that urban poverty has surged.

“While poverty remained a rural phenomenon, urban poverty had grown significantly, with 31.3 per cent of urban dwellers now living in poverty, up from 18 per cent in 2018,” the report observed.

The report also shed light on the relationship between employment and poverty, stressing that having a job does not guarantee economic stability.“Being employed, however, is no guarantee of being able to escape poverty. Many jobs are not productive and therefore remunerative enough to afford a life beyond poverty.”

The World Bank warned that more jobs are urgently needed to harness Nigeria’s demographic dividend. “Jobs hold the key to sharing the proceeds of growth.

Since Nigeria has a young and growing population, the jobs that can harness the country’s potential ‘demographic dividend’ are needed now.”

Meanwhile, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Dr Ndiame Diop, urged the government to stay the course with its reform agenda, warning that reversing them could spell disaster for the country.“Reversing these reforms would be detrimental and would spell doom for Nigeria,” Diop said, adding that while the reforms are tough, they are essential for stabilising the economy.