The World Bank has revealed that poverty in Nigeria rose to 63 per cent in 2025, despite a recent slowdown in inflation, highlighting what it described as a weak transmission of macroeconomic gains to household welfare
The disclosure was contained in its Nigeria Development Update (April 2026) titled “Nigeria’s Tomorrow Must Start Today: The Case for Early Childhood Development,” released in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to the report, the proportion of Nigerians living below the poverty line increased from 56 per cent in 2023 to 61 per cent in 2024, before climbing further to 63 per cent in 2025—representing about 140 million people.
The World Bank noted that this rise occurred even as inflationary pressures began to ease, pointing to a disconnect between falling price levels and real income improvement for households.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that headline inflation dropped significantly from 34.80 per cent in December 2024 to 15.15 per cent in December 2025. Food inflation also declined sharply from 39.84 per cent to 10.84 per cent within the same period.
However, despite the easing, the report stressed that inflation levels remained high enough to continue eroding purchasing power and worsening living standards.
“Household incomes have not grown fast enough to offset still-elevated inflation, and poverty has yet to begin declining,” the report stated.
It further explained that the continued rise in poverty reflects the lingering impact of previous inflation surges, which had already weakened real incomes before recent price stabilisation began.
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There is hunger in the land
SMH