Nigeria: People & Society#

Population186,053,386
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2016 est.)
Nationalitynoun: Nigerian(s)
adjective: Nigerian
Ethnic groupsNigeria, Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups; the most populous and politically influential are: Hausa and the Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%
LanguagesEnglish (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, over 500 additional indigenous languages
ReligionsMuslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%
Demographic profileNigeria’s population is projected to grow from more than 186 million people in 2016 to 392 million in 2050, becoming the world’s fourth most populous country. Nigeria’s sustained high population growth rate will continue for the foreseeable future because of population momentum and its high birth rate. 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. Nigeria needs to harness the potential of its burgeoning youth population in order to boost economic development, reduce widespread poverty, and channel large numbers of unemployed youth into productive activities and away from ongoing religious and ethnic violence. While most movement of Nigerians is internal, significant emigration regionally and to the West provides an outlet for Nigerians looking for economic opportunities, seeking asylum, and increasingly pursuing higher education. Immigration largely of West Africans continues to be insufficient to offset emigration and the loss of highly skilled workers. Nigeria also is a major source, transit, and destination country for forced labor and sex trafficking.
Age structure0-14 years: 42.79% (male 40,744,956/female 38,870,303)
15-24 years: 19.48% (male 18,514,466/female 17,729,351)
25-54 years: 30.65% (male 29,259,621/female 27,768,368)
55-64 years: 3.96% (male 3,595,293/female 3,769,986)
65 years and over: 3.12% (male 2,754,040/female 3,047,002) (2016 est.)
Dependency ratiostotal dependency ratio: 87.7%
youth dependency ratio: 82.6%
elderly dependency ratio: 5.1%
potential support ratio: 19.5% (2015 est.)
Median agetotal: 18.3 years
male: 18.2 years
female: 18.4 years (2016 est.)
Population growth rate2.44% (2016 est.)
Birth rate37.3 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Death rate12.7 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Net migration rate-0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
Urbanizationurban population: 47.8% of total population (2015)
rate of urbanization: 4.66% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Major urban areas - populationLagos 13.123 million; Kano 3.587 million; Ibadan 3.16 million; ABUJA (capital) 2.44 million; Port Harcourt 2.343 million; Benin City 1.496 million (2015)
Sex ratioat birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth20.3
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2013 est.)
Maternal mortality rate814 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
Infant mortality ratetotal: 71.2 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 76 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 66.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)
Life expectancy at birthtotal population: 53.4 years
male: 52.4 years
female: 54.5 years (2016 est.)
Total fertility rate5.13 children born/woman (2016 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate15.1% (2013)
Health expenditures3.7% of GDP (2014)
Physicians density0.41 physicians/1,000 population (2009)
Drinking water sourceimproved:
urban: 80.8% of population
rural: 57.3% of population
total: 68.5% of population
unimproved:
urban: 19.2% of population
rural: 42.7% of population
total: 31.5% of population (2015 est.)
Sanitation facility accessimproved:
urban: 32.8% of population
rural: 25.4% of population
total: 29% of population
unimproved:
urban: 67.2% of population
rural: 74.6% of population
total: 71% of population (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate3.17% (2014 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS3,391,600 (2014 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths174,300 (2014 est.)
Major infectious diseasesdegree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever
water contact disease: leptospirosis and schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
aerosolized dust or soil contact disease: Lassa fever
animal contact disease: rabies (2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate9.7% (2014)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight19.8% (2014)
Education expendituresNA
Literacydefinition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 59.6%
male: 69.2%
female: 49.7% (2015 est.)
Child labor - children ages 5-14total number: 11,396,823
percentage: 29% (2007 est.)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24total: 8.1%
male: NA
female: NA (2014 est.)