Demographics of Nigeria

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Nigeria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria accounts for approximately one sixth of the African population (or one fifth of Sub-Saharan African population).

Approximately 50% of Nigerians are urban dwellers. At least 24 cities have populations of more than 100,000. The variety of customs, languages, and traditions among Nigeria's 389 ethnic groups gives the country a cultural diversity. Census figures are used to determine regional funding and representation of ethnic and religious groups in government service. This provides an incentive for inflating local populations. On the other hand, some academics believe the figures given below by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) are a serious underestimate.

Professor JG Ottong, a social scientist at the University of Calabar, explained that population has been a sensitive and controversial issue "because of its implications for shaping regional, state and ethnic relations and balance of power". In the past, census figures were believed to have been manipulated for political advantage.[1]

The most numerous ethnic groups in the northern two-thirds of the country are the Hausa and the Fulbe/Fulani, the overwhelming majority of whom are Muslim. Other major ethnic groups of the north are the Nupe, Tiv, and Kanuri. The Yoruba people are the overwhelming majority in the southwest, as well as parts of the north-central region. Over half of the Yorubas are Christian and about 40% are Muslim, while the remainder hold traditional Yoruba views. The predominantly Christian Igbo are to be found in the central parts of the southeast. Roman Catholic is the largest denomination, but Pentecostal, Anglican and other Evangelical denominations are also strong. The Efik, Ibibio, Annang, and Ijaw constitute other South Eastern populations.

Persons of different language backgrounds most commonly communicate in English, although knowledge of two or more Nigerian languages is widespread. Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo are the most widely used native Nigerian languages.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
195230,403,305—    
196354,959,426+5.53%
199188,992,220+1.74%
2006140,431,790+3.09%
2013174,507,539+3.15%
Total population
Demographics of Nigeria, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

174,507,539 (July 2013 est.) (CIA World Factbook)
Population: 162,471,000 (July 2011 United Nations est.)

Nigeria has experienced a population explosion for at least the last 50 years due to very high fertility rates, quadrupling its population during this time. Growth was fastest in the 1980s, after child mortality had dropped sharply, and has slowed slightly since then as the birth rate has sunk slightly. According to the 2012 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 159,708,000 in 2010, compared to only 37,860,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below 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.[2]

Total population (x 1000) Population aged 0–14 (%) Population aged 15–64 (%) Population aged 65+ (%)
1950 37 86041.755.33.0
1955 41 12241.655.62.8
1960 45 21241.655.62.8
1965 50 23941.955.22.9
1970 56 13242.654.62.8
1975 63 56643.453.82.8
1980 73 69844.053.22.8
1985 83 90245.052.22.8
1990 95 61744.952.32.9
1995 108 42544.153.02.9
2000 122 87743.553.72.8
2005 139 58643.653.72.7
2010 159 70844.053.22.7

Total and Percent Distribution of Population by Single Year of Age (Census 2006)

[3]

Age Population Percent
Total 140.431.790 100
0-4 22.594.967 16,09
0 3.004.421
1 4.766.927
2 4.874.939
3 4.823.910
4 5.124.770
5-9 20.005.380 14,25
5 4.578.252
6 4.239.954
7 3.641.713
8 4.274.377
9 3.271.084
10-14 16.135.950 11,49
10 4.782.673
11 2.103.323
12 3.690.772
13 2.731.481
14 2.827.701
15-19 14.899.419 10,61
15 4.000.138
16 2.646.846
17 2.387.754
18 3.777.608
19 2.087.073
20-24 13.435.079 9,57
20 5.825.512
21 1.692.905
22 2.372.385
23 1.878.601
24 1.665.676
25-29 12.211.426 8,70
25 4.950.958
26 1.685.645
27 1.891.707
28 2.348.975
29 1.334.141
30-34 9.467.538 6,74
30 5.538.220
31 807.082
32 1.561.540
33 817.720
34 742.976
35-39 7.331.755 5,22
35 3.538.869
36 894.320
37 878.533
38 1.255.414
39 764.619
40-44 6.456.470 4,60
40 4.156.871
41 486.496
42 918.443
43 536.525
44 358.135
45-49 4.591.293 3,27
45 2.359.627
46 517.645
47 503.723
48 746.592
49 463.706
50-54 4.249.219 3,03
50 2.862.363
51 290.004
52 534.394
53 281.811
54 280.647
55-59 2.066.247 1,47
55 967.161
56 320.949
57 251.622
58 324.990
59 201.525
60-64 2.450.286 1,74
60 1.791.258
61 150.477
62 245.662
63 140.134
64 122.755
65-69 1.151.048 0,82
65 645.459
66 102.029
67 138.709
68 171.016
69 93.835
70-74 1.264.937 0,95
70 1.002.176
71 76.808
72 130.975
73 65.660
74 54.978
75-79 579.838 0,41
75 336.831
76 62.741
77 53.839
78 84.521
79 41.906
80-84 760.053 0,54
80 586.064
81 43.174
82 65.942
83 31.895
84 32.978
85+ 715.225 0,51
Age group Population Male Female Percent
0-14 58.736.297 30.462.148 28.274.149 41,83
15-64 77.158.732 38.348.799 38.809.933 54,94
65+ 4.536.761 2.534.541 2.002.220 3,23
Number of children 0-14 Number of women 15-49 Proportion
58.736.297 34.961.107 1,68

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)(Wanted TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[4] [5] [6]

Year CBR (Total) TFR (Total) CBR (Urban) TFR (Urban) CBR (Rural) TFR (Rural)
1990 39 6,011 (5,8) 34 5,033 (4,8) 40 6,326 (6,1)
1999 37,7 5,15 35,6 4,50 38,5 5,44
2003 41,7 5,7 (5,3) 36,3 4,9 (4,6) 44,5 6,1 (5,7)
2008 40,6 5,7 (5,3) 36,8 4,7 (4,4) 42,5 6,3 (5,8)
2013 39 5,5 (4,8) 35 4,7 (4,1) 42 6,2 (5,3)
Year TFR
1981-1982 6.3
1990 6.0 (5,8)
2003 5.7 (5,3)
2008 5.7 (5,3)
2013 5.5 (4,8)
Variable TFR (2003) TFR (2008) TFR (2013)
Nigeria 5.7 (5,3) 5.7 (5,3) 5.5 (4,8)
Urban 4.9 (4,6) 4.7 (4,4) 4.7 (4,1)
Rural 6.1 (5,7) 6.3 (5,8) 6.2 (5,3)
Region - North Central 5.7 (5,2) 5.4 (5,1) 5.3 (4,2)
Region - North East 7.0 (6,7) 7.2 (6,7) 6.3 (4,6)
Region - North West 6.7 (6,6) 7.3 (6,8) 6.7 (6,3)
Region - South East 4.1 (3,5) 4.8 (4,5) 4.7 (4,3)
Region - South South 4.6 (3,9) 4.7 (4,3) 4.3 (3,6)
Region - South West 4.1 (3,9) 4.5 (4,2) 4.6 (4,0)

Source: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)

Population Projections

According to the United Nations, the population of Nigeria will reach 440 million by 2050. Nigeria will then be the 3rd most populous country in the world. In 2100, the population of Nigeria will reach 914 million.[7]

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Nigeria not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. [2]

Period Live births per year Deaths per year Natural change per year CBR* CDR* NC* TFR* IMR*
1950-1955 1 821 0001 169 000 652 00046.129.616.56.35200.7
1955-1960 1 998 0001 181 000 817 00046.327.319.06.35186.6
1960-1965 2 202 0001 197 0001 005 00046.125.121.06.35172.9
1965-1970 2 431 0001 244 0001 187 00045.723.422.36.35159.6
1970-1975 2 801 0001 306 0001 495 00046.821.825.06.61147.3
1975-1980 3 232 0001 377 0001 855 00047.120.127.06.76134.2
1980-1985 3 642 0001 467 0002 175 00046.218.627.66.76125.3
1985-1990 4 018 0001 657 0002 361 00044.818.526.36.60126.0
1990-1995 4 446 0001 866 0002 580 00043.618.325.36.37126.0
1995-2000 4 984 0002 075 0002 909 00043.117.925.26.17118.6
2000-2005 5 606 0002 230 0003 376 00042.717.025.76.05104.0
2005-2010 6 309 0002 224 0004 085 00042.214.927.36.0189.9
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Population structure

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[8]

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

Age structure:
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: 17.9 years
male: 17.4 years
female: 18.4 years (2013 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.54% (2013 est.)

Birth rate: 38.78 births/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Death rate: 13.2 deaths/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Urbanization: urban population: 50% of total population (2010) rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2010-15 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.)

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.)

Education and literacy

Emigration

Further information: Emigration from Africa

Today millions of ethnic Nigerians live abroad, the largest communities can be found in the United Kingdom (500,000-3,000,000)[10] and the United States (600,000-1,000,000 Nigerians). There are also large groups in Canada, Portugal and many other countries. .

Religion

Main article: Religion in Nigeria

Nigeria is nearly equally divided between Christianity and Islam. The majority of Nigerian Muslims are Sunni and are concentrated in the northern area of the country, while Christians dominate in the Middle Belt and south.

According to a 2009 Pew survey 50.4% of Nigeria's population were Muslims.[11] A later Pew study in 2011 estimated that Christians now form the majority of the nation, comprising 50.8% of the population, while Muslims comprised 47.9%.[12][13] Adherents of other religions make up 1.4% of the population.[14]

Crime

Further information: Nigerian organized crime, Confraternities in Nigeria, Piracy in Nigeria and Nigerian scam

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. .[15] 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.[16] On lower levels of society, there are the "area boys", 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.[17]

"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."[18]

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.[19][20] 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%).[21]

Nigeria is also pervaded by political corruption. It is ranked 143 out of 182 countries in Transparency International's 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index.

References

  1. ↑ Odunfa, Sola (2006-03-21). "Nigeria's counting controversy". bbc.co.uk (BBC News, 14 December 2005). Retrieved 2006-02-19.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision
  3. ↑ http://www.population.gov.ng/images/Priority%20table%20Vol%204.pdf
  4. ↑ http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/dhs#_r=&collection=&country=&dtype=&from=1890&page=12&ps=&sk=&sort_by=nation&sort_order=&to=2014&topic=&view=s&vk=
  5. ↑ In the News: The Nigerian Census
  6. ↑ http://www.businessmonitor.com/bigdb_data/by_date/2013/no_month_day/story-Nigeria-Economy-2013-04-17-09-29-12.gif
  7. ↑ "World Population Prospects The 2012 Revision" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  8. ↑ Nigeria: People, CIA World Factbook, 2012. Retrieved on 6 April 2012
  9. ↑ "National literacy main report" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  10. ↑ "Country Profile: Nigeria". Fco.gov.uk. 2010-06-25. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  11. ↑ "Mapping out the Global Muslim Population" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  12. ↑ "Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  13. ↑ "Future of the World Muslim Population" (WEB). January 27, 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "Nigeria: Facts and figures". BBC News. 2007-04-17.
  15. ↑ "Organized Crime: African Criminal Enterprises". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  16. ↑ "Cults of violence – How student fraternities turned into powerful and well-armed gangs". The Economist. 31 July 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  17. ↑ Olukoya, Sam (20 February 2003). "Crime war rages in Nigeria". BBC News. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  18. ↑ Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, "The Dark Side of Diaspora Networking: Organised Crime and Terrorism" in Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment (2005)
  19. ↑ van Heelsum & Hessels 2006, p. 80
  20. ↑ van Dijk 2001, p. 558
  21. ↑ Neue Statistik: Tamilen sind krimineller als Ex-Jugoslawen, Tages-Anzeiger 12 September 2010. In April 2010, the director of the Swiss Federal Office for Migration (BFM), Alard du Bois-Reymond, issued a statement to the effect that 99.5% of asylum seekers of Nigerian origin in Switzerland were criminals who entered Europe with the intention of pursuing petty crime and drug dealing. Task-Force gegen Asylmissbrauch 11 April 2010.