More Nigerians will become poor by 2027- World Bank
…Says Nigeria accounts for 15% of the world’s poorest
The World Bank has projected that more Nigerians will become poor by 2027, as poverty in Nigeria is projected to increase by 3.6 per cent over the next five years.
The World Bank made this projection in its Africa Pulse report, which was released during the ongoing Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, DC, USA.
“Poverty in resource-rich, fragile countries—including large economies like Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo—is projected to increase by 3.6 percentage points between 2022 and 2027,” the report read.
“Sub-Saharan Africa continues to have the highest extreme poverty rate globally, with a disproportionate concentration of the poor: In 2024, 80% of the world’s 695 million extreme poor lived in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
The report said within the region, half of the 560 million extreme poor were located in just four countries, explaining that in comparison, South Asia accounted for 8%, East Asia and the Pacific 2%, the Middle East and North Africa 5%, while Latin America and the Caribbean had 3%.
According to the World Bank’s report, resource-rich countries are expected to lag in poverty reduction due to slowing oil prices and weak fiscal structures.
It stated that, conversely, non-resource-rich countries are benefiting from high agricultural commodity prices, which are fueling stronger growth despite fiscal pressures.
“This follows a well-established pattern whereby resource wealth combined with fragility or conflict is associated with the highest poverty rates—averaging 46% in 2024, which is 13 percentage points higher than in non-fragile, resource-rich countries,” the report added.
