Population
170,123,740 (July 2012 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 2010 revison of the World Population Prospects the total population was 158 423 000 in 2010, compared to only 37 860 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 42.8%, 53.8% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.4% was 65 years or older .
| Total population (x 1000) | Population aged 0–14 (%) | Population aged 15–64 (%) | Population aged 65+ (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 37 860 | 41.7 | 55.3 | 3.0 |
| 1955 | 41 500 | 41.6 | 55.3 | 3.1 |
| 1960 | 45 926 | 41.7 | 55.1 | 3.2 |
| 1965 | 51 196 | 42.2 | 54.5 | 3.3 |
| 1970 | 57 357 | 42.7 | 54.0 | 3.2 |
| 1975 | 65 141 | 43.5 | 53.3 | 3.2 |
| 1980 | 75 543 | 44.1 | 52.8 | 3.1 |
| 1985 | 85 829 | 45.0 | 51.9 | 3.1 |
| 1990 | 97 552 | 44.8 | 52.0 | 3.2 |
| 1995 | 110 015 | 43.9 | 52.9 | 3.2 |
| 2000 | 123 689 | 43.1 | 53.6 | 3.2 |
| 2005 | 139 823 | 42.8 | 53.9 | 3.3 |
| 2010 | 158 423 | 42.8 | 53.8 | 3.4 |
Read more about this topic: Nigerian Diaspora
Famous quotes containing the word population:
“The population question is the real riddle of the sphinx, to which no political Oedipus has as yet found the answer. In view of the ravages of the terrible monster over-multiplication, all other riddle sink into insignificance.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most. The power which the sea requires in the sailor makes a man of him very fast, and the change of shores and population clears his head of much nonsense of his wigwam.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We in the West do not refrain from childbirth because we are concerned about the population explosion or because we feel we cannot afford children, but because we do not like children.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)