Our mission at PiggyVest has always been to provide Nigerians with the tools to achieve financial freedom and security. Over the years, we’ve learned that understanding how people earn, spend, save and invest is crucial in shaping our products and services. That’s why we created the PiggyVest Savings Report in 2023 — an industry first.
This year, we explored Nigerians’ saving, spending and investment habits in detail through the 2024 PiggyVest Savings Report — a comprehensive survey that sheds light on how Nigerians handle their money in these interesting times.
Why did we create the Piggyvest Savings Report?
If you’ve bought groceries lately or taken a taxi, you already know — things are different in 2024. With inflation hitting 32.15% (levels we haven’t seen since 1996!) and major changes like the fuel subsidy removal, we wanted to understand how Nigerians are coping.
Beyond simply highlighting these issues, we also wanted to empower individuals to make more informed financial decisions — whether it’s managing their savings, exploring new income streams or simply finding ways to stretch every naira further.
But we didn’t just want numbers.
We wanted real stories from real people, so we talked to everyone — from market traders and tech professionals to Gen Z first-jobbers and experienced business owners. We even brought in financial experts to help make sense of it all!
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Which numbers caught our eye?
While we’d love for you to read the full report (yes, we’re more than a little proud of it 😊), we thought sharing some interesting bits would be fun.
Here are the numbers that caught our eye in the Piggyvest Savings Report 2024:
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- More than 1 in 3 Nigerians report earning below ₦100,000 monthly. According to Fadekemi Abiru (Head of Insights at Stears, Inc.), this low earning power is primarily due to the informal sector, which employs over 60% of Nigeria’s workforce. These workers often rely on inconsistent income from gig work — a phenomenon the World Bank calls in-work poverty.
- There are gender disparities in earnings. Men are about 1.4 times more likely than women to earn ₦1,000,000 monthly. This gender gap widens even further at higher income levels.
- Food is winning the expense battle. 83% of respondents named food and groceries their biggest expense. That’s not just a number — it’s a story about how Nigerians prioritise basic needs in 2024.
- The savings squeeze is real. Compared to 2023, fewer Nigerians maintain regular savings habits. But here’s the plot twist — almost 1 in 10 Nigerians have emergency savings where they had none before. If that’s not resilience, what is?
These numbers are interesting, but what do they mean to actual Nigerians?
The human side of things
Behind every percentage in our report is a real person with a real story.
Like Mr. James Uche, a civil servant who told us: “I used to save… But because recently the increase in the school fees, increase in electricity tariff, even the cost of fuel has gone up, it becomes very very difficult… It has really put a great toll on the savings.”
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What surprised us?
Remember how everyone was talking about “japa” last year? Well, the data shows an unexpected shift in priorities. While it ranked third in savings goals the previous year at 21%, it’s now behind seven other financial priorities — representing just 10% of Nigerians’ immediate saving goals.
And here’s another one: women are more likely to own businesses than men in 2024. Talk about breaking stereotypes!
What’s next?
Why should you read the full Savings Report?
Well, the full report dives deeper into:
- How different generations handle their money (spoiler: Gen X might be teaching us all a thing or two about emergency funds)
- The real story behind Black Tax in 2024
- How businesses are surviving the inflation storm
- What Nigerians are really planning for their financial future
But we won’t spoil all the surprises here! The complete Piggyvest Savings Report 2024 is now available, packed with insights, expert analysis and stories that might just change how you think about money in Nigeria. Get right into it!
