Nigeria’s Population Now 201m – UN

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says Nigeria’s population has hit a staggering high of 201 million.

Naija News understands that the details of Nigeria’s growing population was contained in the UNFPA’s 2019 state of the world population report.

According to the report, Nigeria’s growth rate has been at an average of 2.6 percent over the past decade. The fertility rate among Nigerian women has dropped from 6.4 in 1969 to 5.3 in 2019, while the global fertility rate stood at 4.8 in 1969; 2.9 in 1994; and 2.5 in 2019.

The report says contraceptive prevalence rate among Nigerian women aged 15-49 is only 19 percent, adding that decision making on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights among these women has averaged at 51 percent between 2007 to 2018.

Hence 49 percent of Nigerian women still do not have the power to decide on their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

The UN agency estimated that Nigeria’s population has grown from 54.7 million in 1969 to 105.4 million in 1994 and 201.0 million in 2019.

Of this 201 million, 44 percent or 88.44 million are between the ages of 0 and 14, while 32 percent, 64.32 are within the ages of 10 and 24.

In 1969 world population reached 3.6 billion, up about 1 billion from only 17 years earlier, leading to the establishment of UNFPA.