The World Bank has disclosed that a staggering 75.5 per cent of rural Nigerians are now living below the poverty line, reflecting deepening hardship in the country’s hinterlands.
This was revealed in the Bank’s April 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief for Nigeria, which paints a grim picture of worsening economic hardship, widening inequality, and persistent underdevelopment across much of the nation.
While poverty is widespread among urban populations, the report emphasised that the situation is significantly worse in rural areas, where economic stagnation, high inflation, and insecurity have exacerbated living conditions.
“Based on the most recent official household survey data from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, 30.9 per cent of Nigerians lived below the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per person per day in 2018/19 before the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report stated.
The report also highlighted Nigeria’s enduring regional disparities. “Nigeria remains spatially unequal. The poverty rate in northern geopolitical zones was 46.5 per cent in 2018/19, compared with 13.5 per cent for southern ones. Inequality measured by the Gini index was estimated at 35.1 in 2018/19.
“Nigeria’s Prosperity Gap — the average factor by which individuals’ incomes must be multiplied to attain a prosperity standard of $25 per day for all — is estimated at 10.2, higher than most peers.”
Despite successive policy interventions, these figures underscore a persistent economic divide across the country.
The report’s demographic analysis found that children aged 0 to 14 years had a poverty rate of 72.5 per cent, reflecting the scale of deprivation among the youngest segment of the population.
Gender disparities were also observed, with 63.9 per cent of females and 63.1 per cent of males classified as poor under the $3.65 per day lower-middle-income threshold.
Education emerged as a significant determinant of poverty, with Nigerians lacking formal education experiencing a poverty rate of 79.5 per cent. This contrasts with 61.9 per cent for those with primary education and 50.0 per cent for secondary school graduates. Only 25.4 per cent of those with tertiary education were considered poor.
The report also drew attention to multidimensional poverty indicators, which further reflect widespread deprivation.
According to the World Bank, about 30.9 per cent of Nigerians live on less than $2.15 daily, 32.6 per cent lack access to limited-standard drinking water, 45.1 per cent do not have limited-standard sanitation, and 39.4 per cent have no electricity.
Education access remains a challenge, with 17.6 per cent of adults yet to complete primary education, and 9.0 per cent of households reporting at least one school-aged child not enrolled in school.
The report noted that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to reduce extreme poverty had largely stalled.
“Before COVID-19, extreme poverty reduction had almost stagnated, dropping by only half a percentage point annually since 2010. Living standards of the urban poor are hardly improving, and jobs that would allow households to escape poverty are lacking,” the report read.
Although the World Bank acknowledged recent economic reforms aimed at stabilising Nigeria’s macroeconomic outlook, it warned that persistently high inflation continues to undermine household purchasing power, particularly in urban areas where incomes have not kept pace with rising costs.
In light of the worsening situation, the Bank called for urgent policy action to shield vulnerable groups from inflationary shocks and to drive job creation through more productive economic activities.
