POOREST PEOPLE IN NIGERIA BY ZONE

Sokoto, Bayelsa, and Jigawa States led the list of states in Nigeria with the highest multidimensional poverty index, having an aggregate of 14.18 million impoverished people. 

Factors such as healthcare, food insecurity, education, nutrition, and access to cooking fuel contributed the most to the national poverty index. According to the NBS, over half of the Nigerian populace is multidimensionally poor and deprived of cooking fuel.

The highlights: 65% of the poor people in Nigeria, which translates to 86 million live in the Northern part of the country, while 35% (47 million) live in the southern part.

• The number of poor people living in rural areas is estimated at 105.98 million, with a multidimensional poverty index of 0.302, while 26.94 million people are poor in urban areas, printing an MPI of 0.155.
• Further breakdown of the data showed that the North-West zone has the highest number of poor people with a 45.49 million impoverished population, with an MPI of 0.324. On the other hand, the South-Eastern region recorded the lowest number of poor people with an estimate of 10.85 million and an MPI of 0.183.
• Meanwhile, the South-West region recorded the lowest MPI rate at 0.151, followed by South-East and South-South with 0.183 and 0.25 respectively.
• Furthermore, nutritional deprivations contributed the most to the MPI of the North-West region food insecurity contributed the most in the South. Unemployment contributed the most in the South-South region, while security shocks affected the MPI in South-South, North Central, and North East.
• Poorest Nigerian states: Sokoto State led the list of states with the highest multidimensional poverty index with 0.409 and 5.81 million poor people.
• The state was followed closely by Bayelsa State with an index of 0.401 and 2.61 million poor people.
• Third on the list is Jigawa State with an MPI of 0.385 and 5.76 million people. Others on the list with the worst poverty index include Kebbi (0.385), Gombe (0.38), Yobe (0.37), and Plateau (0.365).
• On the flip side, Ondo State recorded the lowest MPI at 0.095 with only 1.3 million multidimensionally poor people. Lagos and Abia States followed with 0.101, respectively.
• Meanwhile, they differ in the number of poor people. Specifically, Abia has 0.12 million poor people, while Lagos State has 4.22 million people.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently released the highly anticipated multidimensional poverty report. The report put Nigeria’s poverty index at 0.257, with about 133 million people being multidimensionally poor.