In 2022, roughly 15.4 million people lived in Lagos, Nigeria, making it the largest city in Africa. Lagos's population has been gradually increasing, with thousands of people flocking every year to the city, searching for job opportunities and a better life. By 2035, 24.4 million might be dwelling in the city.

As of July 2024, Nigeria's population was estimated at around 229.5 million. Between 1965 and 2024, the number of people living in Nigeria increased at an average rate of over two percent. In 2024, the population grew by 2.42 percent compared to the previous year. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. By extension, the African continent records the highest growth rate in the world. Africa's most populous country Nigeria was the most populous country in Africa as of 2023. As of 2022, Lagos held the distinction of being Nigeria's biggest urban center, a status it also retained as the largest city across all of sub-Saharan Africa. The city boasted an excess of 17.5 million residents. Notably, Lagos assumed the pivotal roles of the nation's primary financial hub, cultural epicenter, and educational nucleus. Furthermore, Lagos was one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. Nigeria's youthful population In Nigeria, a significant 50 percent of the populace is under the age of 19. The most prominent age bracket is constituted by those up to four years old: comprising 8.3 percent of men and eight percent of women as of 2021. Nigeria boasts one of the world's most youthful populations. On a broader scale, both within Africa and internationally, Niger maintains the lowest median age record. Nigeria secures the 20th position in global rankings. Furthermore, the life expectancy in Nigeria is an average of 62 years old. However, this is different between men and women. The main causes of death have been neonatal disorders, malaria, and diarrheal diseases.

Nigeria is the African country with the largest population, counting over 230 million people. As of 2024, the largest city in Nigeria was Lagos, which is also the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of population size. The city counts more than nine million inhabitants, whereas Kano, the second most populous city, registers around 3.6 million inhabitants. Lagos is the main financial, cultural, and educational center in the country. Where Africa’s urban population is booming The metropolitan area of Lagos is also among the largest urban agglomerations in the world. Besides Lagos, another most populated citiy in Africa is Cairo, in Egypt. However, Africa’s urban population is booming in other relatively smaller cities. For instance, the population of Bujumbura, in Burundi, could grow by 123 percent between 2020 and 2035, making it the fastest growing city in Africa and likely in the world. Similarly, Zinder, in Niger, could reach over one million inhabitants by 2035, the second fastest growing city. Demographic urban shift More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. In the next decades, this will increase, especially in Africa and Asia. In 2020, over 80 percent of the population in Northern America was living in urban areas, the highest share in the world. In Africa, the degree of urbanization was about 40 percent, the lowest among all continents. Meeting the needs of a fast-growing population can be a challenge, especially in low-income countries. Therefore, there will be a growing necessity to implement policies to sustainably improve people’s lives in rural and urban areas.

The total population in Nigeria was estimated at 223.8 million people in 2023, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Nigeria Population - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

The Global Human Footprint dataset of the Last of the Wild Project, version 2, 2005 (LWPv2) is the Human Influence Index (HII) normalized by biome and realm. The HII is a global dataset of 1 km grid cells, created from nine global data layers covering human population pressure (population density), human land use and infraestructure (built-up areas, nighttime lights, land use/land cover) and human access (coastlines, roads, navigable rivers).The Human Footprint Index (HF) map, expresses as a percentage the relative human influence in each terrestrial biome. HF values from 0 to 100. A value of zero represents the least influence -the "most wild" part of the biome with value of 100 representing the most influence (least wild) part of the biome.

This statistic shows the total population of Nigeria from 2013 to 2023 by gender. In 2023, Nigeria's female population amounted to approximately 112.68 million, while the male population amounted to approximately 115.21 million inhabitants.

In 2022, Nigeria's population was estimated at around 219 million individuals. Demographic projections show that the Nigerian population might experience a constant increase in the next decades. By 2050, it is forecast that the population will grow to over 377 million people compared to 2022.

Abstract

The 2007 Nigeria Enterprise Survey was part of the UK Department for International Development/World Bank Group Investment Climate Program (ICP) that was launched by the Minister of Finance in August 2007. This program was a response to the request from the Nigeria Federal Minister of Finance to the World Bank Group and UK Department for International Development (DFID) to assist in the development of a diagnostic base on which enterprise and investment climate constraints could be measured and benchmarked internally across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and internationally against key comparator countries, particularly the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

The survey was conducted between September 2007 and February 2008. Data from 2387 establishments was analyzed. The survey was administered across 11 states (Abia, Anambra, Abuja, Bauchi, Cross Rivers, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Ogun and Sokoto) and included manufacturing and services firms of different sizes.

The objective of the Enterprise Surveys is to obtain feedback from companies in client countries on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through face-to-face interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The whole population, or the universe, covered in the Enterprise Surveys is the non-agricultural economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the ISIC Revision 3.1 group classification (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this population definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities sectors.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample includes 2387 establishments: 1891 enterprises have at least 5 full-time employees and 496 are micro establishments with less than 5 full-time workers.

The sample for enterprises with more than four employees was designed using stratified random sampling with strata defined by region, sector and firm size.

Establishments located in 11 states - Abia, Anambra, Abuja, Bauchi, Cross Rivers, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Ogun and Sokoto - were interviewed.

Following the ISIC (revision 3.1) classification, the following industries were targeted: all manufacturing sectors (group D), construction (group F), retail and wholesale services (subgroups 52 and 51 of group G), hotels and restaurants (group H), transport, storage, and communications (group I), and computer and related activities (sub-group 72 of group K). For establishments with five or more full-time permanent paid employees, this universe was stratified according to the following categories of industry: 1. Manufacturing: Food and Beverages (Group D, sub-group 15); 2. Manufacturing: Garments (Group D, sub group 18); 3. Manufacturing: Other Manufacturing (Group D excluding sub-groups 15 and 18); 4. Retail Trade: (Group G, sub-group 52); 5. Rest of the universe, including: • Construction (Group F); • Wholesale trade (Group G, sub-group 51); • Hotels, bars and restaurants (Group H); • Transportation, storage and communications (Group I); • Computer related activities (Group K, sub-group 72).

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition used for the Enterprise Surveys: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers.

The sampling frame of establishments with 5 employees and more was built with lists sourced from the Nigeria Manufacturer Association, the National Bureau of Statistics in Abia, Anambra, Abuja, Cross River, Enugu, Kaduna, Lagos, the ministry of commerce and industry in Ogun, Kano, Bauchi, and from the Abuja Business Directory, the Sokoto Business Directory. This master list was used to set the target sample size for each stratum. During the survey period, the list was updated as new information regarding establishments that had closed or were out-of-scope was gathered. The final population size in all strata and locations was 771018 with the vast majority of establishments operating in the micro and manufacturing strata. The sample (including the entire rest of universe and retail sample in each state) was selected at random from the master list by a computer program.

In this survey, the micro establishment stratum covers all establishments of the targeted categories of economic activity with less than 5 employees. The implementing agency (EEC Canada) selected an aerial sampling approach to estimate the population of establishments and select the sample in this stratum for all states of the survey.

First, to randomly select individual micro establishments for surveying, the following procedure was followed: i) select districts and specific zones of each district where there was a high concentration of micro establishments; ii) count all micro establishments in these specific zones; iii) based on this count, create a virtual list and select establishments at random from that virtual list; and iv) based on the ratio between the number selected in each specific zone and the total population in that zone, create and apply a skip rule for selecting establishments in that zone.

The districts and the specific zones were selected at first according to local sources. The EEC team then went in the field to verify the sources and to count micro establishments. Once the count for each zone was completed, the numbers were sent back to EEC head office in Montreal.

At the head office, the count by zone was converted into one list of sequential numbers for the whole survey region, and a computer program performed a random selection of the determined number of establishments from the list. Then, based on the number that the computer selected in each specific zone, a skip rule was defined to select micro establishments to survey in that zone. The skip rule for each zone was sent back to the EEC field team.

In Nigeria, enumerators were sent to each zone with instructions how to apply the skip rule defined for that zone as well as how to select replacements in the event of a refusal or other cause of non-participation.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instruments are available: - Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 15-37] - Core Questionnaire + Retail Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 52] - Core Questionnaire [ISIC Rev.3.1: 45, 50, 51, 55, 60-64, 72] - Micro Establishments Questionnaire (for establishments with 1 to 4 employees).

The "Core Questionnaire" is the heart of the Enterprise Survey and contains the survey questions asked of all firms across the world. There are also two other survey instruments - the "Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module" and the "Core Questionnaire + Retail Module." The survey is fielded via three instruments in order to not ask questions that are irrelevant to specific types of firms, e.g. a question that relates to production and nonproduction workers should not be asked of a retail firm. In addition to questions that are asked across countries, all surveys are customized and contain country-specific questions. An example of customization would be including tourism-related questions that are asked in certain countries when tourism is an existing or potential sector of economic growth.

The survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, registration, and performance measures. The questionnaire also assesses the survey respondents' opinions on

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual

Universe

18 of the 37 states in Nigeria were selected using procedures described in the methodology report

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A. Sampling Frame The sampling frame was the 2006 National Population Census. For administrative purposes, Nigeria has 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. These states are grouped into six geopolitical zones - the North Central, North East, North West, South East, South South and South West. The states in turn are divided into 776 Local Governments. The demographic and political characteristics of the states vary considerably. For example, the number of component local government areas in the states ranges from 8 in Bayelsa State (in the South South) to 44 in Kano State (in the North West). Likewise state populations vary widely from 1.41 million in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory to 9.38 million in Kano State. The National Bureau of Statistics splits the country further into 23, 070 enumeration areas (EAs). While the enumeration areas are equally distributed across the local government areas, with each local government area having 30 enumeration areas, the differences in the number of local government areas across states implies that there are also huge differences in the number of enumeration areas across states. Appendix table 1 summarizes the population according to the 2006 population census (in absolute and proportionate numbers), number of local government areas, and number of enumeration areas in each state .

Given the above, a stratified random sampling technique was thought to be needed to select areas according to population and the expected prevalence of migrants. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) provided a randomly selected set of enumeration areas and households spread across all states in the Federation from the 2006 sampling frame. Every state in Nigeria has three senatorial zones (often referred to as North, Central and South or East, Central and West). The NBS sample enumeration areas were distributed such that within each state, local government areas from each senatorial zones were included in the sample, with Local Governments in each state nearly evenly distributed between rural and urban areas. In all, a total of 3188 enumeration areas were selected. These enumeration areas were unevenly spread across States; some states in the North West (Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa), and a few in the South South (Akwa Ibom and Delta) had over 100 enumeration areas selected while others such as Imo and Abia in the South East, and Borno, Gombe and Taraba in the North East, had as few as 20 enumeration areas selected. This selection partially reflected the relative population distribution and number of Local Government Areas in the component states. Annex Table B shows details of the states and geopolitical regions, their shares in population of the country, the number of Local Government Areas and enumeration areas in each state and the number of enumeration areas given in the NBS list that formed the frame for the study.

B. The Sample for the Migration Survey

a. Sample Selection of States, Local Governments and Enumeration Areas Originally, the intention was to have proportionate allocation across all states, using the population of each state in the 2006 Census to select the number of households to be included in the sample. But it was later recognized that this would not yield enough migrant households, particularly those with international migrants, especially as the total number of households that could likely be covered in the sample to was limited to 2000. Consequently, a disproportionate sampling approach was adopted, with the aim of oversampling areas of the country with more migrants. According to Bilsborrow (2006), this approach becomes necessary because migrants are rare populations for which a distinct disproportionate sampling procedure is needed to ensure they are adequately captured. Given the relative rareness of households with out-migrants to international destinations within the 10 year reference period (selected by the World Bank for all countries) prior to the planned survey, sampling methods appropriate for sampling rare elements were desirable, specifically, stratified sampling with two-phase sampling at the last stage.

Establishing the strata would require that there be previous work, say from the most recent Census, to determine migration incidence among the states. However, the needed census data could not be obtained from either the National Bureau of Statistics or the National Population Commission. Therefore, the stratification procedure had to rely on available literature, particularly Hernandez-Coss and Bun (2007), Agu (2009) and a few other recent, smaller studies on migration and remittances in Nigeria. Information from this literature was supplemented by expert judgement about migration from team members who had worked on economic surveys in Nigeria in the past. Information from the literature and the expert assessment indicated that migration from households is considerably higher in the South than in the North. Following this understanding, the states were formed into two strata- those with high and those with low incidence of migration. In all, 18 States (16 in the South and 2 in the North) were put into the high migration incidence stratum while 19 states (18 in the North and 1 in the South) were classified l into the low migration incidence stratum (column C of Appendix Table 1).

The Aggregate population of the 18 states in the high migration incidence stratum was 67.04 million, spread across 10,850 Enumeration areas. Thus, the mean population of an EA in the high migration stratum was 6179. In turn, the aggregate population of the 19 states in the low migration incidence stratum was 72.95 million spread across 12,110 EAs yielding a mean EA population of 6024. These numbers were close enough to assume the mean population of EAs was essentially the same. To oversample states in the high stratum, it was decided to select twice as high a proportion of the states as in the low stratum. To further concentrate the sample and make field work more efficient in being oriented to EAs more likely to have international migrants, we decided to select randomly twice as many LGAs in each state in the high stratum states as in the low stratum states.

Thus, 12 states were randomly selected with probabilities of selection proportionate to the population size of each state (so states with larger populations were accordingly more likely to fall in the sample) from the high stratum states. Then two LGAs were randomly selected from each sample state and 2 EAs per sample LGA (one urban, one rural) to yield a total of 12 x 2 x 2 or 48 EAs in the high stratum states. For the low stratum, 6 states were randomly selected. From each of these, 1 LGA was randomly picked and 2 EAs were selected per sample LGA to give a total of 6 x 1 x 2 or 12 EAs in the low stratum. This yielded a total of 60 EAs for both strata. Given the expected range of 2000 households to be sampled, approximately 67 households were to be sampled from each local government area or 34 households from each enumeration area.

So far, the discussion has assumed two groups of households - migrant and non-migrant households. However, the study was interested in not just lumping all migrants together, but rather in classifying migrants according to whether their destination was within or outside the country. Migrant households were thus subdivided into those with former household members who were international migrants and those with former household members who were internal migrants. Three strata of households were therefore required, namely:

1. Households with an international migrant: at least one person who was a member of the household since Jan. 1, 2000 left to live in an international destination and has remained abroad;
2. Households with an internal migrant: at least one person who was a member of the household since Jan. 1, 2000 left to live elsewhere in Nigeria (outside the sample LGA) and has not returned to the LGA; and
3. Households with no migrant: No member of the household has left to live elsewhere either within or outside the country since Jan. 1, 2000.

The selection of states to be included in the sample from both strata was based on Probabilities of Selection Proportional to (Estimated) Size or PPES. The population in each stratum was cumulated and systematic sampling was performed, with an interval of 12.16 million for the low stratum (72.95 million divided by 6 States), and 5.59 million for the high stratum (67.04 million divided by 12 States). This yields approximately double the rate of sampling in the high migration stratum, as earlier explained. Using a random start between 0 and 12.16, the following states were sampled in the low stratum: Niger, Bauchi, Yobe, Kano, Katsina, and Zamfara. In the high stratum, states sampled were Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Edo, Rivers, Lagos, Ondo, Osun and Oyo. Given its large population size, Lagos fell into the sample twice. The final sample, with LGAs and EAs moving from North to South (i.e. from the low to the high stratum states) is presented in Table 1 below.

The sample was concentrated in the South since that is where it was expected that more households have international migrants. It was expected that the survey would still also be reasonably representative of the whole country and of both internal migrant and non-migrant households through weighting the data. To this effect, field teams were asked to keep careful track at all stages of the numbers of people and households listed compared to the number in the

Population, female (% of total population) in Nigeria was reported at 49.44 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Population, female (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.

In Nigeria, people aged up to four years old made up the largest age group of inhabitants, where 8.1 percent are boys and 7.9 percent are girls. Similarly, children aged five to nine years held the second largest share in the population. Overall, the higher the age, the lower the share.

Lagos, in Nigeria, ranked as the most populated city in Africa as of 2024, with an estimated population of roughly nine million inhabitants living in the city proper. Kinshasa, in Congo, and Cairo, in Egypt, followed with some 7.8 million and 7.7 million dwellers. Among the 15 largest cities in the continent, another two, Kano, and Ibadan, were located in Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa. Population density trends in Africa As of 2022, Africa exhibited a population density of 48.3 individuals per square kilometer. At the beginning of 2000, the population density across the continent has experienced a consistent annual increment. Projections indicated that the average population residing within each square kilometer would rise to approximately 54 by the year 2027. Moreover, Mauritius stood out as the African nation with the most elevated population density, exceeding 640 individuals per square kilometre. Mauritius possesses one of the most compact territories on the continent, a factor that significantly influences its high population density. Urbanization dynamics in Africa The urbanization rate in Africa was anticipated to reach close to 44 percent in 2021. Urbanization across the continent has consistently risen since 2000, with urban areas accommodating 35 percent of the total population. This trajectory is projected to continue its ascent in the years ahead. Nevertheless, the distribution between rural and urban populations shows remarkable diversity throughout the continent. In 2021, Gabon and Libya stood out as Africa’s most urbanized nations, each surpassing 80 percent urbanization. In 2023, Africa's population was estimated to expand by 2.35 percent compared to the preceding year. Since 2000, the population growth rate across the continent has consistently exceeded 2.45 percent, reaching its pinnacle at 2.59 percent between 2012 and 2013. Although the growth rate has experienced a deceleration, Africa's population will persistently grow significantly in the forthcoming years.

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa. As of 2024, the country counted over 232.6 million individuals, whereas Ethiopia, which ranked second, has around 132 million inhabitants. Egypt registered the largest population in North Africa, reaching nearly 116 million people. In terms of inhabitants per square kilometer, Nigeria only ranks seventh, while Mauritius has the highest population density on the whole African continent. The fastest-growing world region Africa is the second most populous continent in the world, after Asia. Nevertheless, Africa records the highest growth rate worldwide, with figures rising by over two percent every year. In some countries, such as Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad, the population increase peaks at over three percent. With so many births, Africa is also the youngest continent in the world. However, this coincides with a low life expectancy. African cities on the rise The last decades have seen high urbanization rates in Asia, mainly in China and India. However, African cities are currently growing at larger rates. Indeed, most of the fastest-growing cities in the world are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gwagwalada, in Nigeria, and Kabinda, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ranked first worldwide. By 2035, instead, Africa's fastest-growing cities are forecast to be Bujumbura, in Burundi, and Zinder, Nigeria.

The Egyptian area of Cairo‑Alexandria‑Suhag was the largest city cluster in Africa as of 2021. Considering the over 1,000 cities that are part of the cluster (cities with over 30,000 residents that are within 100 kilometers' distance, adding up to a population of over 2.5 million), the area counted around 92 million inhabitants. The clusters of Lagos‑Ibadan‑Cotonou and Onitsha‑Uyo‑Port Harcourt in Nigeria followed, accounting for approximately 46 million and 43 million residents, respectively.

The share of urban population in Nigeria saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 54.28 percent. Still, the share reached its highest value in the observed period in 2023. A country's urbanization rate refers to the share of the total population living in an urban setting. International comparisons of urbanization rates may be inconsistent, due to discrepancies between definitions of what constitutes an urban center (based on population size, area, or space between dwellings, among others).Find more key insights for the share of urban population in countries like Burkina Faso and Niger.

Abstract

The 1990 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a nationally representative survey conducted by the Federal Office of Statistics with the aim of gathering reliable information on fertility, family planning, infant and child mortality, maternal care, vaccination status, breastfeeding, and nutrition. Data collection took place two years after implementation of the National Policy on Population and addresses issues raised by that policy.

Fieldwork for the NDHS was conducted in two phases: from April to July 1990 in the southern states and from July to October 1990 in the northern states. Interviewers collected information on the reproductive histories of 8,781 women age 15-49 years and on the health of their 8,113 children under the age of five years.

OBJECTIVES

The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a national sample survey of women of reproductive age designed to collect data on socioeconomic characteristics, marriage patterns, history of child bearing, breastfeeding, use of contraception, immunisation of children, accessibility to health and family planning services, treatment of children during episodes of illness, and the nutritional status of children.

The primary objectives of the NDHS are:

(i) To collect data for the evaluation of family planning and health programmes; (ii) To assess the demographic situation in Nigeria; and (iii) To support dissemination and utilisation of the results in planning and managing family planning and health programmes.

MAIN RESULTS

According to the NDHS, fertility remains high in Nigeria; at current fertility levels, Nigerian women will have an average of 6 children by the end of their reproductive years. The total fertility rate may actually be higher than 6.0, due to underestimation of births. In a 1981/82 survey, the total fertility rate was estimated to be 5.9 children per woman.

One reason for the high level of fertility is that use of contraception is limited. Only 6 percent of married women currently use a contraceptive method (3.5 percent use a modem method, and 2.5 percent use a traditional method). These levels, while low, reflect an increase over the past decade: ten years ago just 1 percent of Nigerian women were using a modem family planning method. Periodic abstinence (rhythm method), the pill, IUD, and injection are the most popular methods among married couples: each is used by about 1 percent of currently married women. Knowledge of contraception remains low, with less than half of all women age 15-49 knowing of any method.

Certain groups of women are far more likely to use contraception than others. For example, urban women are four times more likely to be using a contraceptive method (15 percent) than rural women (4 percent). Women in the Southwest, those with more education, and those with five or more children are also more likely to be using contraception.

Levels of fertility and contraceptive use are not likely to change until there is a drop in desired family size and until the idea of reproductive choice is more widely accepted. At present, the average ideal family size is essentially the same as the total fertility rate: six children per woman. Thus, the vast majority of births are wanted. The desire for childbearing is strong: half of women with five children say that they want to have another child.

Another factor leading to high fertility is the early age at marriage and childbearing in Nigeria. Half of all women are married by age 17 and half have become mothers by age 20. More than a quarter of teenagers (women age 15-19 years) either are pregnant or already have children.

National statistics mask dramatic variations in fertility and family planning between urban and rural areas, among different regions of the country, and by women's educational attainment. Women who are from urban areas or live in the South and those who are better educated want and have fewer children than other women and are more likely to know of and use modem contraception. For example, women in the South are likely to marry and begin childbearing several years later than women in the North. In the North, women continue to follow the traditional pattern and marry early, at a median age of 15, while in the South, women are marrying at a median age of 19 or 20. Teenagers in the North have births at twice the rate of those in the South: 20 births per 1130 women age 15-19 in the North compared to 10 birdas per 100 women in the South. Nearly half of teens in the North have already begun childbearing, versus 14 percent in South. This results in substantially lower total fertility rates in the South: women in the South have, on average, one child less than women in the North (5.5 versus 6.6).

The survey also provides information related to maternal and child health. The data indicate that nearly 1 in 5 children dies before their fifth birthday. Of every 1,000 babies born, 87 die during their first year of life (infant mortality rate). There has been little improvement in infant and child mortality during the past 15 years. Mortality is higher in rural than urban areas and higher in the North than in the South. Undemutrition may be a factor contributing to childhood mortality levels: NDHS data show that 43 percent of the children under five are chronically undemourished. These problems are more severe in rural areas and in the North.

Preventive and curative health services have yet to reach many women and children. Mothers receive no antenatal care for one-third of births and over 60 percent of all babies arc born at home. Only one-third of births are assisted by doctors, trained nurses or midwives. A third of the infants are never vaccinated, and only 30 percent are fully immunised against childhood diseases. When they are ill, most young children go untreated. For example, only about one-third of children with diarrhoea were given oral rehydration therapy.

Women and children living in rural areas and in the North are much less likely than others to benefit from health services. Almost four times as many births in the North are unassisted as in the South, and only one-third as many children complete their polio and DPT vaccinations. Programmes to educate women about the need for antenatal care, immunisation, and proper treatment for sick children should perhaps be aimed at mothers in these areas,

Mothers everywhere need to learn about the proper time to introduce various supplementary foods to breastfeeding babies. Nearly all babies are breastfed, however, almost all breastfeeding infants are given water, formula, or other supplements within the first two months of life, which both jeopardises their nutritional status and increases the risk of infection.

Geographic coverage

The 1990 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a nationally representative survey. The sample was constructed so as to provide national estimates as well as estimates for the four Ministry of Health regions.

Analysis unit

• Household
• Women age 15-49
• Children under five years

Universe

The population covered by the 1990 DHS is defined as the universe of all women age 15-49 in Nigeria.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

The NDHS Sample was drawn from the National Master Sample for the 1987/1992 National Integrated Survey of Households (NISH) programme being implemented by the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS). NISH, as part of the United Nations National Household Survey Capability Programme, is a multi- subject household-based survey system.

The NISH master sample was created in 1986 on the basis of the 1973 census enumeration areas (EA). Within each state, EAs were stratified into three sectors (urban, semiurban, and rural), from which an initial selection of approximately 8C0 EAs was made from each state. EAs were selected at this stage with equal probability within sectors. A quick count of households was conducted in each of the selected EAs, and a final selection of over 4,000 EAs was made over the entire country, with probability proportional to size. This constitutes the NISH master sample from which the NDHS EAs were subsampled.

Prior to the NDHS selection of EAs, the urban and semiurban sectors of NISH were combined into one category, while the rural retained the NISH classification. A sample of about 10,000 households in 299 EAs was designed with twofold oversampling of the urban stratum, yielding 132 urban EAs and 167 rural EAs. The sample was constructed so as to provide national estimates as well as estimates for the four Ministry of Health regions.

The NDHS conducted its own EA identification and listing operation; a new listing of housing units and households was compiled in each of the selected 299 EAs. For each EA, a list of the names of the head of households was constructed, from which a systematic sample of 34 households was selected to be interviewed. A fixed number of 34 households per EA was taken in order to have better control of the sample size (given the variability in EA size of the NISH sample). Thus, the NDHS sample is a weighted sample, maintaining the twofold over sampling of the urban sector.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face

Research instrument

Three questionnaires were used in the main fieldwork for the NDHS: a) the household questionnaire, b) the individual questionnaire, and c) the service availability questionnaire. The first two questionnaires were adapted from the DHS model B questionnaire, which was designed for use in countries with low contraceptive prevalence. The questionnaires were developed in English, and then translated into six of the major Nigerian languages: Efik, Hausa, Igbo, Kanuri,

Nigeria's labor force continues to grow, with over 75.5 million people estimated to be economically active in 2023. This marks a significant increase from the previous year's figure of 73.3 million. The country's workforce has been steadily expanding over the past decade, reflecting the nation's demographic changes and economic development. Urban concentration and gender distribution The labor force in Nigeria is predominantly concentrated in urban areas, with approximately 51.3 million workers in cities compared to 37.6 million in rural communities. Interestingly, the gender distribution of the workforce shows a slight advantage for women, with about 45.4 million female workers compared to 43.6 million male workers. This gender balance in the labor force suggests progress in women's participation in the Nigerian economy. Age demographics and education levels The Nigerian workforce is relatively young, with the largest group being those aged 25 to 34 years, comprising around 23 million people. The second-largest group consists of individuals aged 35 to 44 years, numbering nearly 20.4 million. Education levels vary among workers, with a significant portion having completed secondary school. However, unemployment rates differ based on educational attainment, often with vocational or commercial training graduates experiencing the lowest unemployment rates. Notably, the State of Abia faces the highest unemployment rate at nearly 19 percent, while Lagos state boasts the lowest at 5.5 percent, highlighting regional disparities in job opportunities across the country.

The metropolitan area of Lagos in Nigeria counted over 14 million middle-class people as of 2018. This was the highest number in Africa. Addis Ababa in Ethiopia followed with 2.7 million individuals belonging to the middle class. The middle-class population included people who had a disposable income of over 75 percent of their salary, were employed, had a business activity, or were in education, and had at least a secondary school degree.

The number of smartphone users in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country, is forecast to grow to more than 140 million by 2025. Currently, estimates from different sources put the number of smartphone users in Nigeria at roughly 25 and 40 million. The exact number of users is hard to pin down - however, the data found shows a strong growth outlook for the Nigerian smartphone market with user numbers to at least triple within the next five to six years.

Strong population and GDP growth forecast

The population and gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria are both forecast to grow steadily at an annual rate of two to three percent until 2022. Nigeria’s population is very young (average age of 18) and expected to grow to more than 200 million people by 2020. Concurrently, the GDP is set to reach more than 500 billion U.S. dollars by that time. The country’s telecoms industry also stands to profit from Nigeria’s overall growth due to its contribution to the country’s GDP being steady as of 2012 (7.5 to 10 percent of annual GDP).

Smartphone penetration set to rise

The dynamic growth of Nigeria’s economy and population is set to impact the development of the country’s mobile market as well. There are around 170 million mobile subscriptions in Nigeria. But currently, only around 10 to 20 percent of the population is using a smartphone. The majority of mobile users are still using feature phones which offer basic phone functions like voice calling and text messaging. Smartphone penetration is set to grow though to around 60 percent by 2025, presenting strong growth opportunities for feature phone and smartphone manufacturers alike. At present, Samsung is the leading smartphone vendor in Nigeria. Although, Chinese manufacturers like Tecno, Itel (Hong Kong), and Infinix (Hong Kong) are also holding strong positions in the market.

The fastest growing city in Africa is Bujumbura, in Burundi. In 2020, this city had an estimated population of about one million. By 2035, the population of Bujumbura could increase by 123 percent and reach roughly 2.3 million people. Zinder, in Niger, had about half million inhabitants in 2020 and, with a growth rate of 118 percent, is Africa's second fastest growing city. In 2035, Zinder could have over one million residents.

As of 2021, the largest city in whole Africa is Lagos, in Nigeria. Other highly populated cities in Africa are Kinshasa, in Congo, Cairo, and Alexandria, both located in Egypt.