A staggering 75.5 per cent of rural Nigerians are now living below the poverty line, according to a new report by the World Bank, underscoring a worsening crisis in the country’s hinterlands. The April 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief paints a grim portrait of deepening hardship, surging inequality, and persistent underdevelopment across much of Nigeria.
The report reveals that poverty is not confined to rural communities alone; urban populations are also experiencing widespread deprivation as economic stagnation, high inflation, and insecurity continue to erode 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.
Regional inequality remains stark. While 46.5 per cent of individuals in the northern geopolitical zones were impoverished in 2018/19, only 13.5 per cent in southern regions lived in poverty. The Gini index—a common measure of inequality—stood at 35.1 during the same period, revealing enduring income disparities.
The World Bank highlighted Nigeria’s “Prosperity Gap”—the average factor by which individuals’ incomes must increase to reach a modest prosperity threshold of $25 per day. At 10.2, Nigeria’s gap is among the widest compared to its peers, indicating that significant growth is required for most citizens to achieve a decent living standard.
Demographic analysis in the report showed that children are disproportionately affected, with 72.5 per cent of those aged 0 to 14 years living in poverty. Education remains a critical determinant, as 79.5 per cent of Nigerians with no formal schooling are poor, compared to 61.9 per cent with primary education and only 25.4 per cent among those with tertiary education.
In addition to income poverty, the report exposed widespread multidimensional poverty. It found that 32.6 per cent of Nigerians lack access to limited-standard drinking water, 45.1 per cent are without adequate sanitation, and 39.4 per cent have no access to electricity. Educational access remains a concern, with 17.6 per cent of adults yet to complete primary school and 9.0 per cent of households reporting at least one school-aged child out of school.
The report also noted that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the pace of poverty reduction had nearly stalled, with extreme poverty declining by only 0.5 percentage points annually since 2010.
While acknowledging recent economic reforms by the Nigerian government to stabilize the macroeconomic environment, the World Bank warned that persistently high inflation is eroding household purchasing power, particularly in cities where wages have stagnated.
The Bank called for urgent and targeted policy action to protect vulnerable groups from inflation shocks and to stimulate job creation through more productive sectors. “Without decisive intervention, the current trajectory threatens to entrench poverty and inequality for a generation,” the report concluded.
