Nigeria has the highest rate of unemployment according to a review of the most recent information made available by the World of Statistics.
According to The Punch, Nigeria had the highest percentage (33.3%), followed by South Africa (32.9%), also an African nation, and Iran (15.55%).
The survey also showed that the countries with the lowest unemployment rates were Niger (0.5%), Cambodia (0.36%), and Qatar (0.1%).
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 has caused Nigeria’s unemployment rate to grow to 37.7% in 2022 and would further rise to 40.6 percent.
The slower-than-expected economic development and the economy’s incapacity to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the Nigerian labour market each year, according to the multinational consulting business, 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.
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 also noted the absence of recent updates, which it deemed to be duty-related carelessness.
Prior to this, the National Bureau of Statistics had stated that it would present updated employment and unemployment rates for the whole country by May 2023.
The study, however, hadn’t yet been made public by the national statistics body.
