Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate rose to 38.7% in 2024 from 33% in 2021, with 17.9 million more people experiencing overlapping deprivation, according to a UNDP report.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says Nigeria’s multidimensional poverty rate increased to 38.7 percent in 2024 from 33 percent in 2021.
In its 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report, released on Monday, the UN body said an additional 17.9 million Nigerians slipped into poverty during the period. The report was co-produced with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.
It estimates that 90.1 million Nigerians were living in multidimensional poverty in 2024, compared with 72.2 million in 2021.
Largest Increase Among Five Countries
Nigeria recorded the largest increase in the number of people living in multidimensional poverty among the five countries that saw a rise over their latest measurement periods. Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Guinea and Kyrgyzstan were the other four.
The report said the increase reversed the progress Nigeria recorded between 2018 and 2021, when the proportion of people in multidimensional poverty declined.
Nigeria’s MPI value rose from 0.175 in 2021 to 0.208 in 2024, which indicates an increase in the combined incidence and intensity of deprivation. The intensity of deprivation among poor Nigerians also increased, from 52.9 percent to 53.6 percent.
What Is Multidimensional Poverty?
Unlike income-based measures, which assess poverty by how much people earn or spend, the MPI looks at the overlapping disadvantages people experience in their daily lives. The global index measures deprivation across three dimensions: health, education and standard of living.
Its 10 indicators are nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing and household assets. A person is classified as multidimensionally poor if their household is deprived in at least one-third of the weighted indicators.
The report cautioned that its estimates are based on household survey data collected in different years. Nigeria’s latest estimate rests on 2024 data and does not directly measure poverty in 2026.
Earlier Gains Reversed
The report said Nigeria had recorded reductions in multidimensional poverty in the years before the latest increase. The country’s MPI value declined from 0.230 in 2013 to 0.202 in 2018 and 0.175 in 2021, before rising to 0.208 in 2024.
The proportion of Nigerians living in multidimensional poverty fell from 42.3 percent in 2013 to 37.2 percent in 2018 and 33 percent in 2021, before climbing to 38.7 percent in 2024. The number of people affected declined from 76.3 million in 2018 to 72.2 million in 2021, then rose to 90.1 million in 2024.
The latest figures suggest that Nigeria’s earlier progress was not sustained.
Wide Gaps Between Regions
The report also highlights large differences in deprivation across Nigeria’s subnational regions. Multidimensional poverty incidence ranges from 3.7 percent to 88.3 percent across the regions covered by the analysis.
It compares Yobe and Sokoto, two of Nigeria’s poorest subnational regions with similar MPI values, to show that the types of deprivation communities face can differ even when overall poverty levels are comparable. The report says this underlines the importance of looking at individual deprivation indicators rather than relying only on aggregate figures.
The global MPI uses a standard set of indicators so countries can be compared. It differs from Nigeria’s own national MPI, produced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) with UNDP, UNICEF and OPHI. That survey, conducted in 2021 and 2022, put the share of multidimensionally poor Nigerians at 63 percent, or about 133 million people. The two sets of figures use different indicators and thresholds and should not be compared directly.
Global Poverty Rises for the First Time
Beyond Nigeria, the report estimates that 1.2 billion people across 108 countries live in acute multidimensional poverty. That is 18.9 percent of the 6.3 billion people covered by the index, which represents about 78 percent of the world’s population.
The figure is 51.5 million higher than in the previous update, the first increase since the index was launched in 2010. UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo described the rise as a warning that calls for renewed global action.
Of the 1.2 billion people in poverty, 534 million, or 44.6 percent, experience severe poverty, meaning they are deprived in at least half of the weighted indicators. Another 952 million are considered vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.
Sub-Saharan Africa Carries the Heaviest Burden
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest multidimensional poverty rate of any region, with 616 million people, or 51.4 percent of its population, living in poverty. The region accounts for more than half of the world’s multidimensionally poor. South Asia follows with 393 million.
About 83.3 percent of the world’s poor, roughly 998 million people, live in rural areas, compared with 200 million in urban areas. Poverty incidence stands at 28.7 percent in rural areas against 7 percent in urban areas.
Children bear a disproportionate share. Those under 18 make up 617 million, or 51.5 percent, of the multidimensionally poor. Globally, about one in three children lives in multidimensional poverty, compared with one in seven adults. In sub-Saharan Africa, 355 million children are in poverty, accounting for 57.7 percent of the region’s poor.
Progress Is Still Possible
Despite the overall rise, the report found that progress remains achievable. Of the 89 countries with data that allow comparison over time, 33 have cut their MPI values by at least half in fewer than 15 years, including six in sub-Saharan Africa.
The findings bear on the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of halving, by 2030, the proportion of men, women and children living in poverty in all its dimensions. The report said the global figures show the need for renewed efforts to address overlapping deprivations, while demonstrating that substantial reductions are achievable.
