Nigeria now tops the list of countries with the largest number of
extremely poor people overtaking India which formerly held the shameful position.
The report which was released by Brookings Institution, a non-profit public
policy organisation in the United States (USA), titled: ‘The Start of
a New Poverty Narrative”, Nigeria took over as the nation with the
highest number of extremely poor people in the world, while the
Republic of Congo is also rising as the second poorest in the world.
The report states: “According to our projections, Nigeria has already
overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor
in early 2018, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon
take over the number 2 spot.
“At the end of May 2018, our trajectories suggest that Nigeria had
about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73
million. What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six
people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall.”
It says: “In fact, by the end of 2018 in Africa as a whole, there will
probably be about 3.2 million more people living in extreme poverty
than there are today.
The report observed that it was becoming increasingly difficult to
achieve the first goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which is ending poverty.
“Between January 1, 2016, when implementation of internationally
agreed SDGs started and July 2018, the world has seen about 83 million
people escape extreme poverty.
“But if extreme poverty were to fall to zero by 2030, we should have
already reduced the number by about 120 million, just assuming a
linear trajectory. To get rid of this backlog of some 35 million
people, we now have to rapidly step up the pace.”
