Nigeria’s health inflation rate eased to 17.50% in February 2025, reflecting a slowdown in the pace of price increases for medical goods and services.
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows a significant decline from 25.02% recorded in February 2024, marking a 30.08% drop in annual health inflation.
Despite the moderation in the inflation rate, healthcare costs remain on the rise, with the health index climbing to 111.1 in February 2025 from 94.6 in the previous year and 75.6 in February 2023.
On a month-on-month basis, health inflation rose by 0.12% in February 2025, indicating a slight increase in healthcare costs compared to the previous month. The health index climbed from 109.4 in January to 111.1 in February, reflecting continued price increases, albeit at a slower pace.
The continued increase in the index suggests that while price pressures are easing, the cost of healthcare services and pharmaceuticals continues to rise.
CPI rebasing and inflation adjustments
The slowdown in health inflation comes amid Nigeria’s CPI rebasing, which has adjusted the reference base year from 2009 to 2024 to better reflect current consumer spending patterns and economic realities. One of the key changes in the rebased CPI is the revision of sectoral weightings, with healthcare now accounting for 6.1% of the inflation basket, up from 3.0% in the previous structure.
- The rebasing process was designed to improve inflation measurement by incorporating newer goods and services while realigning weightings based on household spending patterns. However, inconsistencies in reported inflation rates from January 2025 have raised questions about data accuracy.
- The healthcare sector contributed 1.40% to year-on-year headline inflation in February 2025, reinforcing its importance in consumer spending. On a month-on-month basis, the sector accounted for 0.12% of overall inflation.
- While this remains lower than food inflation, which contributed 9.28% year-on-year and 0.82% month-on-month, and transport, which contributed 2.47% year-on-year and 0.22% month-on-month, healthcare remains a key cost component for Nigerian households.
- Despite the drop in the inflation rate, healthcare costs remain on the rise, and affordability remains a concern for many Nigerians.
Discrepancy in NBS health inflation data
While the NBS had reported in its January 2025 CPI report that health inflation stood at 9.42%, its latest report contradicts that figure. The newly released index figures indicate that health inflation for January 2025 was actually 18.04%, based on an index reading of 109.4, up from 92.7 in January 2024.
This significant discrepancy in the reported inflation rate raises concerns about the transparency and consistency of NBS data, particularly as the CPI rebasing takes effect. The adjustment suggests that inflation in the health sector may have been underestimated in previous reports, highlighting the need for greater scrutiny of official inflation data.
Overall, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate fell from 24.48% in January to 23.18% in February, while core inflation (which excludes food and energy) declined slightly from 22.59% to 23.01%. The slowdown in overall inflation suggests that price pressures are easing across multiple sectors, including healthcare.