Poverty in Nigeria reaches 63% despite easing inflation – W’Bank…

Poverty in Nigeria rose to 63% in 2025, despite a slowdown in inflation, indicating the limited impact of recent macroeconomic improvements on household well-being, the World Bank said.

The bank disclosed this in its Nigeria Development Update (April 2026) titled “Nigeria’s Tomorrow Must Start Today: The Case for Early Childhood Development”, released on Tuesday in Abuja.

Data presented in the report shows that the percentage of Nigerians living below the poverty line increased from 56% in 2023 to 61% in 2024, before peaking at 63% in 2025.

The increase in the poverty rate to around 140 million Nigerians occurred even as inflation began to decline during the period, indicating a disconnect between price moderation and real income growth.

A report by The Punch states that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell sharply from 34.80% in December 2024 to 15.15% in December 2025, representing a decline of 19.65 percentage points, according to data from the National Statistics Office.

Similarly, food inflation fell from around 39.84% in December 2024 to 10.84% ​​in December 2025, indicating a sharp decline of around 29 percentage points over the period.

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The strong moderation in both headline and food inflation reflects the easing of price pressures and base effects following the reset of the consumer price index, although the previous peak had already eroded households’ purchasing power.

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