Nigeria Population

Quick facts about the population of Nigeria

Current population (as of Thursday, February 25, 2021)

209,834,737

Population rank

7 (2.67% of world population)

Total area

923,770 km2 (356,670 mi2)

Population density

227.2 per km2 (588.3 people/mi2)

Sex ratio

1.03 (106,257,583 men to 103,581,048 women)

Median age

17.9 years

Life expectancy

47.6 years (46.8 - men, 48.4 - women)

Literacy

59.6 %

(Population figures are estimates by Countrymeters based on the latest United Nations data)

Nigeria population 2021

During 2021 Nigeria population is projected to increase by 5,573,892 people and reach 214,568,727 in the beginning of 2022. The natural increase is expected to be positive, as the number of births will exceed the number of deaths by 5,647,040. If external migration will remain on the previous year level, the population will be declined by 73,148 due to the migration reasons. It means that the number of people who leave Nigeria to settle permanently in another country (emigrants) will prevail over the number of people who move into the country (to which they are not native) in order to settle there as permanent residents (immigrants).

Population change rates in 2021

According to our estimations, daily change rates of Nigeria population in 2021 will be the following:

• 23,081 live births average per day (961.71 in an hour)
• 7,610 deaths average per day (317.07 in an hour)
• -200 emigrants average per day (-8.35 in an hour)

The population of Nigeria will be increasing by 15,271 persons daily in 2021.

Demographics of Nigeria 2020

As of 1 January 2021, the population of Nigeria was estimated to be 208,994,835 people. This is an increase of 2.67 % (5,429,098 people) compared to population of 203,565,737 the year before. In 2020 the natural increase was positive, as the number of births exceeded the number of deaths by 5,500,346. Due to external migration, the population declined by 71,248. The sex ratio of the total population was 1.026 (1,026 males per 1,000 females) which is higher than global sex ratio. The global sex ratio in the world was approximately 1,016 males to 1,000 females as of 2020.

Below are the key figures for Nigeria population in 2020:

• 8,205,735 live births
• 2,705,389 deaths
• Natural increase: 5,500,346 people
• Net migration: -71,248 people
• 106,041,714 males as of 31 December 2020
• 102,953,121 females as of 31 December 2020

Nigeria population density

Nigeria population density is 226.2 people per square kilometer (586.0/mi²) as of February 2021. Density of population is calculated as permanently settled population of Nigeria divided by total area of the country. Total area is the sum of land and water areas within international boundaries and coastlines of Nigeria. The total area of Nigeria is 923,770 km² (356,670 mi²) according to the United Nations Statistics Division .

Religion in Nigeria

Religion	Number of followers	Percentage of total population
Christianity	103,448,525	49.3 %
Islam	102,399,352	48.8 %
Folk or traditional religions	2,937,686	1.4 %
Religiously Unaffiliated	1,049,174	0.5 %

Source: Pew Research Center. The Global Religious Landscape .

Number of followers estimated by Countrymeters (Thursday, February 25 2021).

Nigeria age structure

As of the beginning of 2021 according to our estimates Nigeria had the following population age distribution:

40.9

55.9

3.1

	- percentage of population under 15
	- percentage of population between 15 and 64 years old
	- percentage of population 65+

In absolute figures (estimate):

• 85,556,216 young people under 15 years old ( 43,730,079 males / 41,828,226 females)
• 116,915,891 persons between 15 and 64 years old ( 59,645,036 males / 57,272,945 females)
• 6,522,729 persons above 64 years old ( 3,151,642 males / 3,368,997 females)

We prepared a simplified model of the population distribution pyramid which is broken down into 3 main age groups. The groups are the same as we used above: population under 15, between 15 and 64 and population which is over 65 year old.

65+

15-64

0-14

male

female

Note: The pyramid provided is not corresponding to data given above because the age groups have different number of years.

As we can see the Nigeria population pyramid has an expanding type. This type of pyramid is common for developing countries with high birth and death rates. Relatively short life expectancy, as well as low level of education and poor health care are also describe such kind of population age distribution model.

Source: The estimation data for section "Nigeria age structure" is based on the latest demographic and social statistics by United Nations Statistics Division .

Age dependency ratio

Dependency ratio of population is a ratio of people who are generally not in the labor force (the dependents) to workforce of a country (the productive part of population). The dependent part includes the population under 15 years old and people aged 65 and over. The productive part of population accordingly consists of population between 15 and 64 years.

This ratio shows the pressure on productive population produced by the dependent part of population.

The total dependency ratio of population in Nigeria is 78.8 %.

As we can see the dependent part of population is comparable to the working part. It means that each working person in Nigeria must provide goods for himself and cover expenditure on one child or aged person additionally. The value of 78.8 % shows that the pressure on productive population in Nigeria is very high.

Child dependency ratio

Child dependency ratio is a ratio of people below working age (under 15) to workforce of a country.

Child dependency ratio in Nigeria is 73.2 %.

Aged dependency ratio

Aged dependency ratio is a ratio of people above working age (65+) to workforce of a country.

Aged dependency ratio in Nigeria is 5.6 %.

Source: The estimation data for section "Nigeria age dependency ratio" is based on the latest demographic and social statistics by United Nations Statistics Division .

Life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth is one of the most important demographic indicator. It shows the number of years a newborn infant would live assuming that birth and death rates will remain at the same level during the whole lifetime.

Total life expectancy (both sexes) at birth for Nigeria is 47.6 years.
This is below the average life expectancy at birth of the global population which is about 71 years (according to Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations).

Male life expectancy at birth is 46.8 years.
Female life expectancy at birth is 48.4 years.

Literacy of population

According to our estimates 73,575,310 persons or 59.6% of adult population (aged 15 years and above) in Nigeria are able to read and write. Accordingly about 49,863,310 adults are illiterate.

Literacy rate for adult male population is 69.19% (43,448,394 persons). 19,348,284 are illiterate.
Literacy rate for adult female population is 49.68% (30,126,917 persons). 30,515,025 are illiterate.

Youth literacy rates are 79.89% and 65.33% for males and females accordingly. The overall youth literacy rate is 72.79%. Youth literacy rate definition covers the population between the ages of 15 to 24 years.

Source: The estimation data for section "Nigeria population literacy" is based on the latest data published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (retrieved March 13, 2016) .