Half Of Nigerians Now Live In Poverty, Minimum Wage Lags Behind Inflation— World Bank

The World Bank has said that nearly half of Nigeria’s population is now living in poverty as inflation continues to outrun the purchasing power of the country’s minimum wage.

This was stated in the World Bank’s May 2025 Nigeria Development Update (NDU), released in Abuja, disclosing that 46 percent of Nigerians, about 107 million people, were living below the international poverty line of $2.15 per day in 2024, even as the country boasts of being Africa’s largest economy.

The report reads: “Successive years of rising inflation and sluggish growth have increased poverty and hardship levels. Since 2018/19, an additional 40 million people fell into poverty, and nearly half of all Nigerians (46 percent measured at the international poverty line of US$2.15 based on the 2017 PPP) are estimated to have been living in poverty in 2024.

“Labour incomes have not kept up with inflation, depleting the purchasing power of Nigerians. Poverty has deepened and broadened, especially among urban Nigerians.”

The World Bank report emphasised the disconnect between economic data and lived realities, highlighting that while Nigeria’s GDP may be growing on paper, the wealth is not reaching ordinary citizens.

“From a static perspective, Nigeria’s economy needs to grow to boost incomes and meet aspirations,” the report added.

The international Bank said Nigeria’s annual GDP per capita stands at a mere 4.4% of Singapore’s and just 30% of Botswana’s, a fellow African country with fewer natural resources but better economic governance.

“If Nigeria’s current annual economic output was equally distributed, this would be sufficient to eliminate poverty, but it would still leave Nigerians far behind the global prosperity frontier,” the Bank noted.

With an estimated population of 232.7 million people and a GDP of N277.5 trillion in 2024, the report calculated that if every Nigerian received an equal share of the economy’s output, each would earn about N100,000 per month, an amount still insufficient to meet basic needs in many urban areas due to spiralling inflation.

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