The Evolution of Poverty and Welfare in Nigeria, 1985-92

Abstract

The authors profile Nigerian poverty, showing its evolution from 1985 to 1992. This paper is divided into 6 sections, beginning with an overview. Section 2 looks at the sources of data used. Section 3 examines household income and expenditure distribution, interprets poverty indices, and calculates relative poverty lines for Nigeria. Section 4, the paper's core, presents the spatial characteristics of poverty in Nigeria and their evolution over the seven-year period, indicating in which regions and states the poor are located and the extent and severity of their poverty; lays out the poor's basic demographic characteristics including time use and employment patterns, detailing how these have evolved; features the roles the poor play in various sectors of the economy; and discuss how changes in poverty could be explained by growth-related and redistribution factors. Section 5 discusses the evolution of expenditures and explains how expenditure patterns correspond to poverty. Section 6 presents conclusions, among them: the extremely poor -who dominate the ranks of the uneducated- became poorer, while all other income groups had a higher standard of living; an increase in mean per capita household spending reduced the proportion of the population in poverty but different regions did not share equally in the benefits of growth; household spending grew faster in southern and central Nigeria and slower in the north; and poverty was overwhelmingly rural and regional, but also greatly influenced by age, educaton, and the nature of employment.