Nigeria recorded the world’s largest increase in the number of people living in multidimensional poverty, with an additional 17.9 million Nigerians falling into poverty between 2021 and 2024, according to the 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index.
The report, published on Monday by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, showed that Nigeria experienced a reversal in poverty reduction after recording improvements between 2018 and 2021.
The findings placed Nigeria ahead of Afghanistan, which recorded an increase of 5.3 million poor people during its latest assessment period.
The report stated, “In absolute terms, the largest increase in the number of poor people is seen in Nigeria, where although poverty had decreased in the previous period (2018–2021), in the recent period (2021–2024), 17.9 million people became multidimensionally poor, followed by 5.3 million in Afghanistan