Poverty statistics for Nigeria

Sokoto Is The Poorest State, Lagos
The Richest” – Statistics
At the end of 2012, Sokoto State
remained the poorest state in the
country, with 81.2 per cent poverty
rate, the records of the National
Bureau of Statistics have shown.
According to the information on
states of the federation, posted on
the bureau’s website, other states
with over 70 per cent poverty rate
include Katsina, 74.5 per cent,
Adamawa, 74.2 per cent; Gombe,
74.2 per cent; Jigawa, 74.1 per
cent, Plateau, 74.1 per cent,
Ebonyi, 73.6 per cent; Bauchi, 73
per cent, Kebbi, 72 per cent and
Zamfara, 70.8 per cent.
The state with the lowest poverty
rate was Niger with 33.8 per cent,
followed by Osun with 37.9 per
cent and Ondo, 45.7 per cent.
Others with less than 50 per cent
poverty rate were Bayelsa State, 47
per cent and Lagos State, 48.6 per
cent.
The average poverty rate of the
states in the North -West
geopolitical zone remained the
highest at 71.4 per cent followed by
North-East 69.1 per cent and North
Central, 60.7 per cent.
The record showed that poverty was
least prevalent in the South-West,
with an average of 49.8 per cent,
followed by South-South, 55.5 per
cent and South-East, 59.5 per cent.
According to NBS, national
unemployment rate stood at 23.9
per cent at the beginning of 2012.
There were no figures for 2011 but
the 2012 statistics represented an
improvement in the figures released
by the bureau for 2010.
The Statistician-General of the NBS,
Dr. Yemi Kale, had said 112.519
million Nigerians, representing 69
per cent, lived in relative poverty
conditions.
He said this when he released the
country’s 2010 poverty profile.
According to the NBS boss, the
agency arrived at the 2010 figure,
by collecting data from 20 million
households having an average of
four family members.
In that report, Sokoto had the
highest poverty rate of 86.4 per
cent, while Niger had the lowest —
at 43.6 per cent.
It would be recalled that as at 2004,
Jigawa State had the highest poverty
rate of 95 per cent, while Anambra,
had the lowest- 22 per cent.
For unemployment rate, Zamfara
State had the highest rate of 42.6
per cent, followed by Bauchi, 41.4
per cent.
Other states with above 30 per cent
unemployment rate included,
Gombe, 38.7 per cent, Nassarawa,
36.5 per cent, Jigawa, 35.9 per
cent, Edo, 35.2 per cent, Adamawa,
33.8 per cent and Kaduna, 30.3 per
cent.
According to the records,
unemployment was least in Osun
followed by Kwara and Lagos.