National Bureau of Statistics’ recently published Nigerian Living Standards Survey indicates that 40.09 percent of Nigerian are poor. With a staggering population of 205 million people, over 80 million Nigerians live in poverty. Whereas the poverty rate in urban areas is only 18.04 percent, as much as 52.1 percent of rural dwellers are poor.
The report also revealed that northern Nigeria had the most poverty headcount rate. North-East region had the most poverty average while South Western Nigerian had the least. The average poverty headcount rate for North-Central is 42.7 percent, while North-East is 71.86 percent. Likewise, North-West has 64.84 percent rate, South-East, 42.44 percent, South-South, 21.28 percent, and South West (12.12 percent).
On the other hand, Lagos (4.5 percent), Delta (6.02 percent), Osun (8.52 percent), Ogun (9.32 percent), Oyo (9.83 percent), Edo (11.99 percent), Ondo (12.52 percent), Anambra (14.78 percent), Kwara (20.35 percent), and Bayelsa (22.61 percent) had the least poverty rate in the country.