Nigeria saw the world's largest rise in multidimensional poverty
The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index from UNDP and OPHI says 17.9 million more Nigerians became multidimensionally poor between 2021 and 2024, the largest absolute increase of any country measured. Online, the figure is being read as a verdict on current economic policy, which the data window does not fully support.
A UN-backed index released on Oct 12 shows multidimensional poverty in Nigeria rose sharply between 2021 and 2024, reversing gains made from 2018 to 2021. The numbers are clear, but what they are being used to prove needs care.
Key claims
- 17.9 million more Nigerians became multidimensionally poor between 2021 and 2024, the largest absolute increase in the world.
- The poverty rate rose from 33.0 percent to 38.7 percent, and the number of poor people from 72.2 million to 90.1 million.
- Popular claim on X: the increase happened under President Tinubu's administration and proves his reforms failed.
- A separate figure, 113.3 million poor Nigerians (48.7 percent), is also circulating.
What the evidence says so far
The UNDP statistical update states: "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 to 2021), in the recent period (2021 to 2024), 17.9 million people became multidimensionally poor, followed by 5.3 million in Afghanistan."
The 90.1 million and 113.3 million figures measure different things. The first comes from harmonised trend data used to compare years. The second is the latest 2024 national estimate, which Punch notes does not use the adjustments applied to the harmonised series. They should not be compared directly.
The 2021 to 2024 window includes roughly two years of the previous administration and about a year and a half after President Tinubu took office in May 2023. The report measures change over the period. It does not attribute the change to any government or policy.
TheCable notes that the latest estimate is based on 2024 survey data and is not a measurement of poverty in 2026.
Sources
- UNDP: 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index
- UNDP: Global MPI 2026 Statistical Update (PDF)
- UNDP: Nigeria country briefing (PDF)
- TheCable
- Punch
Source notes
The primary UNDP documents were read directly. The claim that the rise happened under Tinubu comes from AI-generated summaries of posts on X, not from the report, and is treated here as the claim being tested. No response from the federal government was found, and that is an open gap.