Nigeria and DR Congo will account for 40% of world's poor by 2050 according to new report

NIGERIA and the Democratic Republic of Congo will account for 40% of the world's poor people by 2050 according to a recent report published by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which laments the lack of economic growth in both nations.

Currently with populations of 180m and 84m  respectively, Nigeria and DR Congo are among Africa's giants and both nations are projected to see further population growth over the next 30 years. However, the economic growth rates in both nations is not matching this rise in population, leading to the increase in poverty.

In this damning report from the foundation, poor nutrition, high maternal and infant mortality are major contributors to relatively low average life expectancy in Nigeria  According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, by 2050, Nigeria will have 152m people in extreme poverty, out of a projected population of 429m.

It blamed this on the lack of investment in human capital to correspond with the increasing population growth. Nigeria is currently the seventh most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 198m.

This annual report, produced in partnership with Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, at the University of Washington, tracks progress being made on the United Nations sustainable development goals. In June, the Brookings Institution reported that Nigeria had overtaken India as the nation with the highest number of poor people, with 87m of its citizens living in extreme poverty.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nigerians are getting poorer due to the lack of coherent and comprehensive economic reforms. In a report published in March, the IMF said while more than a billion in the world have lifted themselves out of extreme poverty since 2000, it is becoming heavily concentrated in sub-Sahara African countries.

Furthermore, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation added: “By 2050, that’s where 86% of the extremely poor people in the world are projected to live. The challenge is that within Africa, poverty is concentrating in just a handful of very fast-growing countries.

“By 2050, for example, more than 40% of the extremely poor people in the world will live in just two countries, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Even within these countries, poverty is still concentrating in certain areas."

It added that to address the poverty crisis, adequate investment would need to be made in young people, especially in areas of education, health and human capital development.  According to the report, investing in young people’s health and education is the best way for a country to unlock productivity and innovation, cut poverty, create opportunities and generate prosperity.