According to the National Bureau of statistics’ Poverty and inequality report of 2019, these 10 states have the highest number of poor people in Nigeria, ranked according to the poverty headcount rate. The poverty headcount rate is the percentage of the population living below the poverty line according to national standards.
Nine of the 10 poorest states are from Northern Nigeria. The only exception is Ebonyi, a southeast state. Ebonyi is the fourth poorest based on available data from NBS.
It is important to note that these numbers exclude Borno state. Borno state sample is considered non-representative and non-random due to it not being safe to visit.
Nigeria’s urban poverty headcount rate stood at 18.04% and the rural poverty headcount rate was 52.10%.