Nigeria is home to 19% of the extremely poor population in sub-Saharan Africa, the highest share across the region, according to the World Bank’s April 2025 Africa’s Pulse report.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the global epicenter of extreme poverty, with the World Bank revealing that the region accounted for 80% of the world’s 695 million extremely poor people in 2024.
That’s roughly 560 million people living on less than $2.15 per day.
Nigeria’s 19% share of this figure means over 106 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty.
This translates to about 15% of the entire world’s poorest people, highlighting the depth of the poverty crisis in Africa’s largest economy.
Other countries with high concentrations of extreme poverty in the region include the Democratic Republic of Congo (14%), Ethiopia (9%), and Sudan (6%). Together with Nigeria, these four countries host half of sub-Saharan Africa’s poor.
“Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest extreme poverty rate globally, and the large share of the poor is concentrated in a few countries,” the World Bank noted.
A growing crisis
Despite modest improvements in poverty rates projected in a few countries, the number of extremely poor people is expected to increase by 90 million between 2022 and 2027. This would push the continent’s total from 576 million in 2025 to 589 million in 2027, even as poverty rates may decline slightly in 2026 and 2027.
Nigeria’s deepening poverty reflects its structural economic challenges. Although it boasts the continent’s largest GDP, widespread poverty persists due to high inflation, naira depreciation, insecurity, and structural unemployment. PwC projects that 13 million additional Nigerians will be pushed into poverty in 2025 due to these economic headwinds.
Millions of Nigerians also suffer from multidimensional poverty, lacking access to healthcare, education, clean water, electricity, and safe housing.
Government’s response
To address the crisis, the Federal Government has announced several initiatives. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, said the government will distribute N75,000 cash transfers to 15 million of the nation’s poorest people by the end of 2025.
- Also set for relaunch is the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSFP) on May 29, 2025. A total of N100 billion has been allocated in the 2025 budget to expand the program and increase its impact across communities.
- However, analysts caution that while such interventions are welcome, they do not address the core drivers of poverty. More holistic reforms are needed — including economic diversification, job creation, improvements in healthcare and education, and better governance — to sustainably reduce Nigeria’s extreme poverty burden.
What this means: That more than 1 in every 7 of the world’s poorest people lives in Nigeria raises urgent questions about the country’s development path.
Without bold reforms, Nigeria risks becoming not just the most populous country in Africa, but also the poverty capital of the world.
