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Nigeria’s Rural Poverty Hits 75% – World Bank
Global apex banking institution, the World Bank, has disclosed that the poverty rate among Nigeria’s rural population has reached an alarming 75.5 per cent, highlighting deepening inequality and widespread economic hardship across the country.
According to the World Bank’s latest 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief for Nigeria, the rural dwellers are overwhelmingly bearing the brunt of economic stagnation, inflation, and structural challenges that have characterised the country’s growth trajectory in recent years.
The surveys show that while 41.3 per cent of the urban population lives below the poverty line, the figure for rural Nigeria is almost double.
The report noted that overall, 30.9 per cent of Nigerians lived below the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day in 2018/19, before the outbreak of COVID 19, but noted that multiple economic shocks, mounting insecurity, and inflation have worsened poverty levels since then.
The Bank
Stressing that poverty remains highly spatially unequal in Nigeria, the bank noted that in the 2018/19 period, the poverty rate in the northern geopolitical zones stood at 46.5 per cent, compared to 13.5 per cent for the southern regions.
“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 (2017 PPP) in 2018/19 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nigeria remains spatially unequal. The poverty rate in northern geopolitical zones was 46.5 per cent in 2018/19, compared with 13.5 per cent for southern ones. Inequality measured by the Gini index was estimated at 35.1 in 2018/19.
“Nigeria’s Prosperity Gap — the average factor by which individuals’ incomes must be multiplied to attain a prosperity standard of $25 per day for all — is estimated at 10.2, higher than most peers”, the report disclosed.
These figures highlight the stark economic divide across different parts of the country, which has persisted despite various interventions aimed at inclusive growth.
In addition to rural poverty, the Bank’s brief revealed troubling trends across demographic groups.
Children aged between 0 to 14 years had a poverty rate of 72.5 per cent, while 63.9 per cent of females and 63.1 per cent of males were classified as poor at the lower-middle-income poverty line of $3.65 per day.
Education status also played a significant role in poverty outcomes. Adults without any formal education recorded a poverty rate of 79.5 per cent, while those with primary education experienced a 61.9 per cent poverty rate.
Even among those with secondary education, 50.0 per cent still fell below the poverty line, whereas individuals with tertiary education fared comparatively better, with a poverty rate of 25.4 per cent.
The World Bank further noted that about 30.9 per cent of Nigerians survive on less than $2.15 a day, 32.6 per cent do not have access to limited-standard drinking water, 45.1 per cent lack limited-standard sanitation, and 39.4 per cent have no access to electricity.
Additionally, 17.6 per cent of adults have not completed primary education, and 9.0 per cent of households have at least one school-aged child who is not enrolled in school.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said progress in reducing extreme poverty in Nigeria had nearly stagnated, with the poverty rate declining by only half a percentage point annually since 2010.
It also disclosed that urban living standards among the poor showed little improvement, and the availability of productive jobs remained severely limited.
The World Bank attributed this slow progress to Nigeria’s structural economic challenges, particularly its continued dependence on oil, lack of diversification, and vulnerabilities to climatic shocks impacting rural agriculture, which remains a primary source of rural livelihoods.
Corlins Walter