The World Bank, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has released a report revealing that approximately 40 million Nigerian children are living in extremely poor households.
The report, titled ‘Global Trends in Child Monetary Poverty According to International Poverty Lines’, highlights the prevalence of child poverty in middle-income countries, where the majority of impoverished children reside.
In absolute numbers, the report states that 179.4 million children are experiencing extreme poverty in middle-income countries, with 14.9 per cent in the lower-middle-income category and 2.2 per cent in the upper-middle-income category.
This figure includes 52.2 million children in India, constituting 11.5 per cent, and a staggering 40 million children in Nigeria, accounting for 37.9 per cent, living in extremely poor households.
News About Nigeria gathered that the report underscores that extreme child poverty is particularly prevalent in regions marked by fragility and conflict.
Approximately 38.6 per cent of children, equivalent to 164.7 million, residing in conflict and fragility-affected countries are facing extreme poverty.
In contrast, 10.1 per cent of children, totalling 168.7 million, in non-fragile states experience extreme poverty.
While the report reveals a decline in the number of children living in extreme poverty, with an estimated 63.3 million fewer children facing this hardship between 2013 and 2019, the slow pace of the reduction observed between 2013 and 2016 is attributed to rapid population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Economies by income: In absolute numbers, most children living in extreme poverty live in middle-income countries, 179.4 million children (14.9 per cent in lower middle and 2.2 per cent in upper middle income in extreme poverty) – including 52.2 million children in India (11.5 per cent) and 40 million children in Nigeria (37.9 per cent) living in extremely poor households”, it said.
