According to Nigeria’s National Population Commission, one in every 43 person in the world is Nigerian. The country is also the seventh most-populous country in the world.
Chairman of the National Population Commission, Eze Duruiheoma, told the Commission on Population and Development in New York that Nigeria’s current population is nearing 200 million.
At the last census in 2006, Nigeria’s population was 140 million.
A little over a decade later, the country is just two million people away from hitting the 200 million mark.
Nigeria is also projected to become the third most-populated country in the world by 2050. The UN projects that the country could overtake Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia and the U.S. by 2060 given its current growth rate.
Alongside excitement about the country’s growing presence and thereby influence around the world, there is concern. Last month, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, cautioned that there could be “a demographic disaster” in the making. Competition for resources, rising unemployment, poor infrastructure, waning health, among others are current issues the country is wrestling with that could be worsened by a population spike.
