Over 91 Million Nigerians Now Living In Extreme Poverty

Over 91 million Nigerians are now living in extreme poverty, after at least three million Nigerians slipped into the dreaded bracket between November 2018 and February 2019.

In a new report by the World Poverty Clock , created by Vienna-based World Data Lab, 91.16 million Nigerians were living below a dollar a day as of February 13, 2019.

This comes after the Brookings Institution in June 2018 projected that Nigeria had overtaken India, as the poverty capital of the world, with 86.9 million extremely poor people.

This was further confirmed by the British Prime Minister Theresa May, who said Nigeria had become home to the largest number of very poor people in the world, putting the figures at 87 million.

“Much of Nigeria is thriving, with many individuals enjoying the fruits of a resurgent economy, yet 87 million Nigerians live below $1 and 90 cents a day, making it home to more very poor people than any other nation in the world,” May said.

The Brookings Institution discovered that six people fall into poverty every minute in Nigeria, as the country battles with two recessions in the last four years.

A person can be said to be living in extreme poverty if they live below the poverty line of $1.90 or N693.5 per day.