83 million Nigerians living in poverty – NBS

Approximately eighty-three million Nigerians are currently living in poverty, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The data released by the NBS Monday morning shows that 82.9 million people in the country are living on less than one United States dollar per day.

According to the 2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria report released by the bureau, the figure represents 40.09 per cent of the total population and the rising trend was likely to continue.

According to the report, absolute poverty is measured by the number of people, who can afford only the bare essentials of shelter, food and clothing.

The data however, excludes Borno, which has been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency.

According to the report, 52.10 per cent of rural dwellers are living in poverty while the poverty rate in urban centres is 18.04 per cent.

The NBS, together with the World Bank used the Nigerian Living Standards Survey to measure poverty and living standards between September of 2018 and October of 2019.