Over half of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor- NBS

Over half of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor- NBS

*Says 86m in north, 47m in south as 133m Nigerians are poor

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that 63 per cent of persons living in Nigeria (133 million people), more than half of the population of Nigeria is multidimensionally poor and cooks with dung, wood, or charcoal, rather than clean energy.

The NBS on Thursday in a statement on the highlight of the result of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey, stated that over half of the population of Nigeria is multi-dimensionally poor, with multidimensional poverty higher in rural areas, where 72 per cent of people are poor, compared to 4 per cent of people in urban areas.

The highlight of the report showed that the national MPI is 0.257, which means poor people in Nigeria experience just over one-quarter of all possible deprivations.

The breakdown of the figure, revealed that not less than 65 per cent of the poor (86 million people) live in the North are poor, while 35 per cent (nearly 47 million) live in the South are also, poor.

Although, poverty levels across states vary significantly, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty ranging from a low of 27 per cent in Ondo to a high of 91 per cent in Sokoto.

In general, the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most states. In Nigeria, 40.1 per cent of people were poor, based on the 2018/19 national monetary poverty line, and 63 per cent are multidimensionally poor according to the National MPI 2022.

Multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas, where 72 per cent of people are poor, compared to 42 per cent 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, based on the national MPI, and a little over half (51%) of all poor people are children.