Individual, Household and Community-level Determinants of Women Empowerment in Nigeria.

Background: This study examines the determinants of women's empowerment in Nigeria carrying out a multi-level analyses. The research is inspired by the limited scholarly attention this subject has received in the extant Nigerian literature. Method: Secondary data comprising 38,156 women from the Nigeria National Demographic and Health Survey for 2023/2024 was used for the analyses. Women empowerment index (WEI) was operationalised using four constructs of women autonomy. A multilevel linear regression model available in Stata was employed for the analysis, with statistical significance set at p < 0.10. Resul t: WEI is estimated at 0.388 indicating 61.2% gap in achieving the full potential of women empowerment. The result from the multilevel linear regression revealed that older women(26 and above) and those formerly educated tend to be more empowered. In contrast, women who had experienced genital mutilation, married as a child, lived in large household (five members or more), were in polygamous marriage or resided in male-headed households tend to be less empowered. Furthermore, women identified as Islam, traditionalist, or belong to the Hausa ethnic group demonstrated low level of empowerment. Conclusion: The low level of women empowerment constitutes a substantial barrier to Nigeria's attainment of Sustainable Development Goals.