The number of ‘Multi dimensionally poor’ Nigerians increased from 86 million to 98 million between 2007 and 2010. This is according to the 2019 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). Nairametrics understands that the figure represents 13.9% increment within a decade.
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UNDP’s report: According to the report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), the proportion of people who ‘are multi-dimensionally poor’ had remained constant at just over 50% for the reviewed period.
“In Nigeria, even though the proportion of people who are multi-dimensionally poor has remained constant at just over 50% over the past decade (up to 2017), the actual number of people who are multi-dimensionally poor increased from 86 million to 98 million over the same period.
Also, it is important to note that when compared to the national poverty line which measures income/consumption, a larger proportion of Nigerians (51%) are multi-dimensionally poor than those that are income poor (46%).”
Surprised? The 2019 MPI may not be surprising as far as Nigeria is concerned. As of June 2018, Nigeria overtook India as the country with the most extremely poor people in the world.
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The World Poverty Clock fact: About 86.9 million Nigerians are living in extreme poverty, which implies that nearly 50% of its estimated 180 million population are very poor.
Why this matters: Nigerians are growing in numbers every day. Despite this, the government is yet to put a policy in place to control its population. As a result, Nigeria faces a major population boom, as it’s expected to become the world’s third-largest country by 2050.
India has a population seven times larger than Nigeria’s. Thus, going by the history of governance in Nigeria, the struggle to lift more citizens out of extreme poverty is a challenge each administration will have to face.
