Nigeria’s Unemployment Rate at 33% is Highest Worldwide

Nigeria’s Unemployment Rate at 33% is Highest Worldwide

  • Data by World of Statistics suggests that Nigeria’s unemployment rate at 33% is the highest in the world
  • The data reveals that Qatar has the least unemployment rate, followed by Cambodia and Niger
  • Nigeria has for decades been battling the problem of rising unemployment rate in the country

Recent information made available by the World of Statistics has shown that Nigeria has the highest rate of unemployment in the world

According to the data which was also confirmed by The Punch, Nigeria has the highest percentage (33.3%), followed by South Africa (32.9%), also an African nation, and Iran (15.55%).

On the other hand, the countries with the lowest rate of unemployment were Qatar: 0.1%, Cambodia: 0.36%, and Niger 0.5%.

Unemployment
Nigeria’s unemployment rate is the highest in the world. Photo Credit: fizkes, Pheelings Media
Source: Getty Images

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that the country ranks 4th among the world's top 10 countries with the highest youth unemployment.

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As a result of the lingering issue, Legit.ng in a previous report highlighted the main causes, effects and solutions to unemployment.

Number of unemployed keeps increasing

The National Bureau of Statistics reports that Nigeria's unemployment rate rose from 27.10% in the second quarter of 2020 to 33.30% in the fourth quarter.

In contrast, a more recent report from the international consulting firm KPMG claimed that the continued influx of job seekers into the labour market caused Nigeria's unemployment rate to grow to 37.7% in 2022 and would rise to 40.6%.

According to the multinational consulting firm, the slower-than-expected economic development and the inability to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the Nigerian labour market each year will make it difficult to reduce unemployment.

The National Bureau of Statistics was recently encouraged by the Centre for Social Justice to gather and make public the country's most recent unemployment statistics.

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NBS receives support from CSJ

According to CSJ, a supporter of fiscal transparency, accountability, and evidence-based policy development and implementation, the NBS last issued data on unemployment in Nigeria in the fourth quarter of 2020.

It further stated that new information had been missing since that time, which it viewed as duty-related negligence.

Before this, the National Bureau of Statistics had stated that it would present updated employment and unemployment rates for the nation by May 2023.

However, the national statistics agency had yet to make the study public.

Farmers in Nigeria to be Removed From New Employment Data as World Bank Report on Unemployment Rate

According to a World Bank/National Bureau of Statistics report, Nigerians who practice subsistence farming would be removed from the employment data, Legit.ng had reported.

The report allegedly used recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines for calculating labour force numbers which will reveal a sharp decline in Nigeria’s unemployment rate.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Zainab Iwayemi avatar

Zainab Iwayemi (Business Editor) Zainab Iwayemi is a business journalist with over 5 years experience reporting activities in the stock market, tech, insurance, banking, and oil and gas sectors. She holds a Bachelor of Science (B.sc) degree in Sociology from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State. Before Legit.ng, she worked as a financial analyst at Nairametrics where she was rewarded for outstanding performance. She can be reached via zainab.iwayemi@corp.legit.ng