Six People Fall Into Extreme Poverty in This Nation Every Minute
- Nigeria has more extremely poor people than any other nation
- United Nations says Nigeria’s population will double by 2050
A woman walks on plastic waste in Lagos.
Photographer: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
“I eat anything I see,” says Abdul Edosa, 30, as he sits under the bridge in the sprawling Nigerian commercial metropolis of Lagos, where he sleeps. “I beg money from people -- anything they give me, I eat.”
Edosa’s is a familiar voice in the country with the world’s largest number of extremely poor, which the United Nations defines as living on less than $1.90 a day. The estimated figure now is 87 million people, or almost half the population of Africa’s biggest oil producer, and unless something dramatic happens, it’s going to get much bigger.