Question: How many people live in Nigeria?

Demographics of Nigeria



Nigeria is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, with approximately 196 million people in an area of 920,000km2 (360,000sqmi),[1] and is also the country with the largest population in Africa[2] and the seventh largest population in the world.[3] Approximately 50% of Nigerians are urban dwellers, with the rate of urbanization being estimated at 4.3%.[2] Nigeria is home to over 250 ethnic groups, with over 500 languages,[2] and the variety of customs, and traditions among them gives the country great cultural diversity. The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa/Fulani 29% of the population; along with the Yoruba 21% and Igbo 19%.[2] The Efik, Ibibio, Annang, and Ijaw constitute other Southeastern populations. The Urhobo-Isoko, Edo and Itsekiri constitute Nigerian's Midwest with the Urhobo standing out as the majority.
Most of the population is a young population, with 42.54% between the ages of 0–14.[2][4] There is also a very high dependency ratio of the country at 88.2 dependents per 100 non-dependents.[2]
Three of the main religious groups are Muslim at 50%, Christian at 40% and other indigenous beliefs at 10%.[3] The predominantly Christian Igbo are found in the southeast. Roman Catholicism is the largest Christian denomination in Igboland, but Anglicanism is also strong, as are Pentecostal and other Evangelical denominations.
Persons of different ethnic backgrounds most commonly communicate in English, although knowledge of two or more Nigerian languages is widespread. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are the most widely used Nigerian languages. Nigerian Pidgin is used widely as an unofficial medium of communication especially in the Nigerian cities of Warri, Sapele, Ughelli, Benin and Port Harcourt.
Population
Historical populationYearPop.±% p.a.195230,403,305—196354,959,426+5.53%199188,992,220+1.74%2006140,431,790+3.09%2011162,471,000+2.96%2013174,507,539+3.64%2015182,202,000+2.18%2017191,836,000+2.61%


Nigeria's population has been increasing rapidly for at least the last 5 decades due to very high birth rates, quadrupling its population during this time. That type of growth rate is known as exponential. It is not growing at a linear rate. Growth was fastest in the 1980s, after child mortality had dropped rapidly, and has slowed slightly since then as the birth rate has declined slightly. According to the 2017 revision of the World Population Prospects the total population was 185,989,640 in 2016, compared to only 37,860,000 in 1950. The proportion of children under the age of 15 in 2010 was 44.0%, 53.2% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.7% was 65 years or older. There is a large population momentum, with 3.2 percent growth rate leading to the projected population.[5][2][6]
The Nigerian government has said that it wants to help curb a rapid growth in population. They have offered free contraception over the past 10 years or so and they have even started taking steps to discourage people who are looking to have large families. The government is banking on smaller families as a way to secure financial salvation in the future. They are looking toward territories like Thailand (another country with large population growth issues) as a model for their current strategy.[7]
Abuja has not successfully implemented family planning programs to reduce and space births because of a lack of political will, government financing, and the availability and affordability of services and products, as well as a cultural preference for large families. Increased educational attainment, especially among women, and improvements in health care are needed to encourage and to better enable parents to opt for smaller families.[3]
The Nigeria's Chairman of National Population Commission, Eze Duruiheoma, delivering Nigeria's statement in New York on Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration in the 51st Session of Commission on Population and Development, said that "Nigeria remains the most populous in Africa, the seventh globally with an estimated population of over 198 million. The recent World Population Prospects predicts that by 2050, Nigeria will become the third most populated country in the world. Over the last 50 years, the Nigeria's urban population has grown at an average annual growth rate of more than 6.5 per cent without commensurate increase in social amenities and infrastructure." He also stated that the population "grew substantially from 17.3 in 1967 to 49.4 per cent in 2017."[8]

Fertility and births
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)(Wanted TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[9][10]
[11]
[12][13]



Fertility data as of 2013 (DHS Program):[14]

Source: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)[15]
Fertility rate by state

∗ MICS surveys
Contraceptive prevalence
Contraceptive prevalence, any methods (% of women ages 15–49)

∗ UNICEFs State of the Worlds Children and Childinfo, United Nations Population Divisions World Contraceptive Use, household surveys including Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.[16]
Population projections
The total population in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to increase to almost one billion people, making it the most populated region outside of South-Central Asia.[17] According to the United Nations, the population of Nigeria will reach 411 million by 2050. Nigeria might then be the 3rd most populous country in the world. In 2100, the population of Nigeria may reach 794 million. While the overall population is expected to increase, the growth rate is estimated to decrease from 1.2 percent per year in 2010 to 0.4 percent per year in 2050.[17] The birth rate is also projected to decrease from 20.7 to 13.7, while the death rate is projected to increase from 8.5 in 2010 to 9.8 in 2050.[17] Life expectancy is all expected to increase from 67.0 years in 2010 to 75.2 years in 2050. By 2050 the percent of the population estimated to be living in urban areas is 69.6% compared to the 50.6% in 2010.[17]
Vital statistics
Registration of vital events is in Nigeria not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.[18]

Life expectancy at birth
Life expectancy from 1950 to 2015 (UN World Population Prospects)[19]:

Total and percent distribution of population by single year of age (Census 2006)
[20]




Structure of the population (DHS 2013) (males 87 034, females 89 529 = 176 574):


Other demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics of Nigeria are from the World Population Review.[7]
One birth every 4 seconds
One death every 14 seconds
Net gain of one person every 6 seconds
One net migrant every 9 minutes
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[3]

Population:

190,632,261 (July 2018 est.)

178.5 million (2014 est.)[22]

174,507,539 (July 2013 est.)
Population distribution

Nigeria is the Africa's most populous country. Significant population clusters are scattered throughout the country, with the highest density areas being in the south and southwest.
Age structure:

0–14 years: 42.5%  (male 41,506,288/female 39,595,720)

15–24 years: 19.6% (male 19,094,899/female 18,289,513)

25–54 years: 30.7% (male 30,066,196/female 28,537,846)

55–64 years: 3.9% (male 3,699,947/female 3,870,080)

65 years and over: 3% (male 2,825,134/female 3,146,638) (2017 est.)

0–14 years: 43.8% (male 39,127,615/female 37,334,281)

15–24 years: 19.3% (male 17,201,067/female 16,451,357)

25–54 years: 30.1% (male 25,842,967/female 26,699,432)

55–64 years: 3.8% (male 3,016,896/female 3,603,048)

65 years and over: 3% (male 2,390,154/female 2,840,722) (2013 est.)

Median age:

total: 18.4 years. Country comparison to the world: 212th

male: 18.3 years

female: 18.5 years (2017 est.)
total: 17.9 years

male: 17.4 years

female: 18.4 years (2013 est.)
Population growth rate:

2.43% (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 24th
2.54% (2013 est.)
Total fertility rate:

5.07 children born/woman (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 13th
Birth rate:

36.9 births/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 13th
38.78 births/1,000 population (2013 est.)
Death rate:

12.4 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
13.2 deaths/1,000 population (2013 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth:

20.3 years. Note: median age at first birth among women 25–29 (2013 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate:

20.4% (2016)
Net migration rate:

-0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 106th
-0.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2013 est.)
Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 88.2

youth dependency ratio: 83

potential support ratio: 19.4 (2015 est.)
Urbanization:

urban population: 50.3% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: 4.2% annual rate of change (2015–20 est.)
Life expectancy at birth

total population: 51.56 years

male: 51.58 years

female: 51.55 years (2000 est.)
total population: 46.94 years

male: 46.16 years

female: 47.76 years (2009 est.)
total population: 52.05 years

male: 48.95 years

female: 55.33 years (2012 est.)

male: 52 years

female: 53 years (2014 est.)[22]
HIV/AIDS

adult prevalence rate

3.1% (2007 est.)

3.6% (2009 est.)
people living with HIV/AIDS

2.6 million (2007 est.)

3.3 million (2009 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):

total: 9 years

male: 9 years

female: 8 years (2011)
Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 59.6%

male: 69.2%

female: 49.7% (2015 est.)



Total population: 78.6%

Male: 84.35%

Female: 72.65%  (2010 est.)[23]
Emigration


Today millions of ethnic Nigerians live abroad, the largest communities can be found in the United Kingdom (500,000–3,000,000)[24] and the United States (600,000–1,000,000 Nigerians), other countries that followed closely are South Africa, Gambia, and Canada respectively. There are also large groups in  Ireland,  Portugal and many other countries.[25]
Inspiration for emigration is based heavily on socio-economical issues such as warfare, insecurity, economical instability and civil unrest. Between 1400–1900, of 1.4 million of 2 million emigrants were slaves sent to the Americas. This is due to the fact that the land now known as Nigeria was a central point for 4 slave trades during the 19th century. Though bondage represented a great deal, an estimated 30,000 Nigerian inhabitants would relocate to Kano City and Gambia to take advantage of financial opportunities afforded by fertile land and available natural resources. What's more, the presence of gold mines and rail lines along the Gold Coast, present-day Ghana, attracted an estimated 6,500 Nigerian citizens to attain financial gain and opportunity. The population of Nigerians in Ghana rose to roughly 149,000 before the 1969 alien expulsion order would displace nearly the entire population to surrounding countries.[26]
Religion

Nigeria is nearly equally divided between Christianity and Islam. The majority of Nigerian Muslims are Sunni and are concentrated in the northern, central and south-western zones of the country, while Christians dominate in some central states (especially Plateau and Benue states), and the south-east and south-south regions. Other religions practiced in Nigeria include African Traditional Religion, Hinduism, Bahai, Judaism, The Grail Message, and the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity[27]
According to a 2009 Pew survey, 45% of Nigeria's population were Muslims.[28]  A later Pew study in 2011 calculated that Christians now formed 56.8% of the population in Nigeria, while Muslims comprised 41.1%.[29][30] Adherents of other religions make up 1.4% of the population.[31]
The shift of population balance between Muslims and Christians is a result of northern and southern Nigeria being in different stages of demographic transition. The Muslim-dominated north is in an earlier stage of the demographic transition with much higher fertility rates than the south, whose split Christian/Muslim population is further along in the transition, and whose fertility rates are declining. Decreasing fertility can be linked to more access to education, use of contraceptives, and differing beliefs regarding family planning.[5]
The 1999 introduction of Sharia Law in 12 northern Nigerian states led to massive violence and unrest and caused an ethnic and religious rift between Sharia and Non-Sharia states, a divide that has deepened with time.[5]
Crime


Nigeria is home to a substantial network of organized crime, active especially in drug trafficking.
Nigerian criminal groups are heavily involved in drug trafficking, shipping heroin from Asian countries to Europe and America; and cocaine from South America to Europe and South Africa.[32]
The various Nigerian Confraternities or "campus cults" are active in both organized crime and in political violence as well as providing a network of corruption within Nigeria. As confraternities have extensive connections with political and military figures, they offer excellent alumni networking opportunities. The Supreme Vikings Confraternity, for example, boasts that twelve members of the Rivers State House of Assembly are cult members.[33]
On lower levels of society, there are the "area boys", these are organized gangs mostly active in Lagos who specialize in mugging and small-scale drug dealing. According to official statistics, gang violence in Lagos resulted in 273 civilians and 84 policemen killed in the period of August 2000 to May 2001.[34]
"the result of factors such as endemic local corruption, which facilitates illicit trafficking; the Biafra civil war, which contributed to a proliferation of firearms; the oil boom of the 1970s, which led to the embezzlement of public funds; and the economic crisis of the 1980s, which was accompanied by a rise in robberies. The expansion of the Nigerian diaspora and organized crime went hand in hand. Global migration boosted prostitution, drug trafficking and fraud, the three main activities of Nigerian syndicates. The smuggling of Nigerian sex workers became a whole industry that now extends from Switzerland to France and Italy (where black prostitutes are called "fireflies"), and has even reached the prudish kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from which 1,000 women are said to be deported every month by the authorities."[35]
The high crime rate among Nigerian migrants also leads to stereotyping Nigerians as criminals; thus, in Cameroon, Nigerian migrants are perceived collectively by the inhabitants of Cameroon as likely to be oil smugglers or dealers in stolen cars. In the Netherlands, the debate on Nigerian crime reached an intensity described as a "moral panic" by one scholar.[36][37] In Switzerland, the crime rate of Nigerian young males was reported as 620% that of Swiss males in same age group (2009 data), the second highest crime rate of any nationality, just below that of  Angolan nationals (at 630%).[38]
Nigeria is also pervaded by political corruption. It is ranked  136 out of 168 countries in Transparency International's 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index.[39]



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