Nigeria Overtakes India In World’s Extreme Poverty Ranking

Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, a new report by the World Poverty Clock has said.

According to the report, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, the highest number in the world. India on the other hand, is witnessing a decline in its level of extreme poverty.

At the end of May (2018), the survey showed that Nigeria had an estimated 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared to India’s 73 million.

The report further stated that in Africa, D.R Congo may soon overtake India as number two, while Africa may be home to additional 3.2 million people living in extreme poverty by the end of 2018.

With the report, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to end extreme poverty by 2030 may be unattainable even as Africa faces major population increase.

According to the UN, By 2050 around 2.2 billion people could be added to the global population and more than half of that growth will come from Africa.

It also predicts that Nigeria will become the world’s third largest country by then.