Population according to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10th Edition is the whole number of people or inhabitants in a country or region.
The National Population Commission, Nigeria’s principal commission responsible for producing data about Nigeria’s population, announced on Tuesday December 8, 2020 that the population of Nigeria is now estimated at 206 million. In 2018, Nigeria’s population was estimated to be 180 million. That means that the population of Nigeria grew by 8 million in 2 years. That’s the size of Switzerland, or Togo and way above the population of countries like Finland, Kuwait or New Zealand. With the population of 206 million, Nigeria is way ahead of the second and third most populous African countries of Ethiopia and Egypt with the populations of 141 million and 102 million respectively.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) a research institute working in the area of global health statistics and impact evaluation at the University of Washington in Seatle has projected that Nigeria’s population will exceed 400 million by 2050.
Nigeria is the most populous black nation with the median age of 18.4. With the youthful age comes the energy for continued reproduction which will keep the population increase on the steady if two things are not done immediately. First, there is urgent need to invest more fund in reproductive health in Nigeria and secondly there is need for more awareness about contraception in Nigeria, demystifying misconceptions around contraceptives which is fueled by ignorance and rigid socio-cultural and religious norms.
The next decades will see population numbers increase to around 791 million by 2100. Currently, out of every five Africans, one is a Nigerian. With over 86.9 million of the population living in extreme poverty, Nigeria is the country with the largest number of extreme poor people in the world. In the latest reports, unemployment rate increased to 33 per cent in December 2020 and the countries labour force participation dropped to 53.4 per cent in Dec. 2020.
It is clear today that Nigeria’s population has crossed the line of being a blessing and is turning into a curse (church people will say, “God forbid!”). In 1960, Germany, the most populous European nation had a population of 73 million people while Nigeria had a population of 45 million people. In the year 2000 Germany’s population was 82 million and Nigeria 122 million. In 2020, Germany had a population of 83 million whereas Nigeria had a population of 206 million. Projections show that by 2050, Germany will have a population of 92 million while Nigeria’s population will shoot to 401 million. Are we breeding persons that will be transported to Mars? Well maybe, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are already working on that. But bad news, Many Nigerians will not qualify to be transported to Mars as almost half of the country live below 2 USD per day. The good question is, what will really become of humans if being transported to another planet becomes the only available option because of bad climate that hugely emanate from overpopulation and overconsumption? Let’s fall inline while there is still something we can do by choosing smaller families. Smaller family sure pass!!!!!