The World Bank has stated that the poverty level of Nigeria has dropped. This was revealed during a media launch of the Nigeria Economic Report in Abuja.

World Bank says poverty rate in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 per cent of population in 2010 / 2011 to 33.1 per cent in 2012 / 2013.

The World Bank has stated that the poverty level of Nigeria has dropped. This was revealed during a media launch of the Nigeria Economic Report in Abuja.

World Bank says poverty rate in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 per cent of population in 2010 / 2011 to 33.1 per cent in 2012 / 2013.

Mr John Litwack who is the World bank’s Acting Country Manager and Lead Economist said the poverty rate in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 per cent of the population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 per cent in the 2012/2013.

The country Manager stated that the decrease was a significant drop from an estimated poverty rate of 62.2 per cent recorded between 2009 and 2010 based on the Harmonised Nigeria Living Standard Statistics (HNLSS).

He said “The poverty rates per capital from the General Household Survey (GHS) panel between 2012 and 2013 is 33.1 per cent with 44.9 per cent in the rural areas and 12.6 per cent in the urban areas. This indicates lower poverty rates compared to 35.2 per cent recorded between 2010 and 2011 with 46.3 per cent in the rural areas and 15.8 per cent in the urban centre.”

Litwack said that an estimated 60 per cent of the total population of Nigeria lived below 140 per cent of the poverty line, which is close to two dollars per day. He said there appeared to be higher poverty rate in the Northern part than in the Southern parts of the country.

He said “The number of poor Nigerians has remained 58 million, more than half of which live in the North East or North West of the country. The South and North Central experienced declines in the poverty rate between 2010 to 2011and 2012 to 2013, the poverty rate increased in the North East and remained almost unchanged in the North West”.

The World Bank Manager said that employment level still remained a critical problem in the country.

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Poverty level in Nigeria drops – World Bank