Nigeria’s Population over 198m – NPC

The Nigerian Population Council (NPC) has pegged the country’s population at 198 million, Punch reports.

Chairman of the NPC, Eze Duruiheom, revealed this while delivering a talk on “Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration” at the 51st Session of Commission on Population and Development in New York.

Duruiheom said the population had grown at an average annual rate of 6.5% over the last 50 years. He said:

Nigeria remains the most populous country in Africa, the seventh globally with an estimated population of over 198 million.

The recent World Population Prospects predicts that by 2050, Nigeria will become the third most populated country in the world.

Over the last 50 years, Nigeria’s urban population has grown at an average annual growth rate of more than 6.5 per cent without a commensurate increase in social amenities and infrastructure.

It grew substantially from 17.3 in 1967 to 49.4 per cent in 2017. In addition, the 2014 World Urbanisation Prospects report, predicts that by 2050, most of the population – 70 per cent – will be residing in cities.

The 2010 human mobility Survey report revealed that 23 per cent of the sampled population were of more females than males.