Nigeria’s GDP per capita drops from $3,220 in 2014 to to $835 in 2025, IMF says

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), says that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita declined to $835.49 in 2025 from $877.07 in 2024, a 4.74 percent drop.

Data from the IMF website on Thursday showed that there has been a sustained downtrend since 2014, when the GDP per capita had stood at a high of $3,220.

GDP is the most commonly used measure of a country’s overall economic activity. It represents the total value at current prices of final goods and services produced within a country during a specified time divided by the average population for the same year. GDP per capita measures the average standard of living of a country’s citizens.

The IMF, however, projected a rise in 2026 and 2027, with the GDP per capita expected to cross the $1,000 mark in 2028 at $1,040.

The Fund’s data also revealed that Nigeria and the majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa are within the $500 to $2,500 GDP per capita band, with some below $500.

This decline comes amid a rebasing of the GDP by the National Bureau of Statistics, which will bring new sectors of the economy into consideration.

The new additions to the rebased GDP as announced by the National Bureau of Statistics were digital economy activities, pension funds, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, the activities of modular refineries, domestic households as employers of labour, quarrying and other mining activities, and illegal and hidden activities.