Highest number of extremely poor people in the world is in Nigeria and Congo, latest 2022 Poverty and Prosperity Report of the World Bank has shown.
The financial institution, however, noted that despite having a large share of global extreme poor, Nigeria and Congo contributed less to increase in extreme poverty as the economic shocks triggered by the pandemic was mild in the countries.
It noted that while Congo contributed half a million people, Nigeria contributed three million people to global extreme poverty.
The report read in part, “Although smaller in population, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo are still relatively large countries and home to a large share of the global extreme poor; however, they had relatively mild economic shocks in 2020 and so contribute less to the global increase in extreme poverty, about three million and half a million, respectively.”
In its report titled, ‘A Better Future for All Nigerians: 2022 Nigeria Poverty Assessment’, the World Bank had warned earlier that many non-poor Nigerians were only one small shock away from falling into poverty.
According to the Washington-based bank, such a shock could be induced by the issues of climate or conflict, further threatening Nigeria’s poverty reduction efforts.
