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Niger vs. Libya

Demographics

NigerLibya
Population23,605,767 (July 2021 est.)7,017,224 (July 2021 est.)

note: immigrants make up just over 12% of the total population, according to UN data (2019)
Age structure0-14 years: 50.58% (male 5,805,102/female 5,713,815)

15-24 years: 19.99% (male 2,246,670/female 2,306,285)

25-54 years: 23.57% (male 2,582,123/female 2,784,464)

55-64 years: 3.17% (male 357,832/female 364,774)

65 years and over: 2.68% (male 293,430/female 317,866) (2020 est.)
0-14 years: 33.65% (male 1,184,755/female 1,134,084)

15-24 years: 15.21% (male 534,245/female 513,728)

25-54 years: 41.57% (male 1,491,461/female 1,373,086)

55-64 years: 5.52% (male 186,913/female 193,560)

65 years and over: 4.04% (male 129,177/female 149,526) (2020 est.)
Median agetotal: 14.8 years

male: 14.5 years

female: 15.1 years (2020 est.)
total: 25.8 years

male: 25.9 years

female: 25.7 years (2020 est.)
Population growth rate3.65% (2021 est.)1.76% (2021 est.)
Birth rate47.28 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)22.23 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Death rate10.09 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)3.46 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Net migration rate-0.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)-1.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Sex ratioat birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 0.93 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.92 male(s)/female

total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2020 est.)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 1.09 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female

total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2020 est.)
Infant mortality ratetotal: 68.12 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 73.02 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 63.06 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)
total: 11.48 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 12.97 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 9.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)
Life expectancy at birthtotal population: 59.7 years

male: 58.19 years

female: 61.26 years (2021 est.)
total population: 76.93 years

male: 74.68 years

female: 79.29 years (2021 est.)
Total fertility rate6.91 children born/woman (2021 est.)3.13 children born/woman (2021 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate0.2% (2020 est.)0.1% (2020)
Nationalitynoun: Nigerien(s)

adjective: Nigerien
noun: Libyan(s)

adjective: Libyan
Ethnic groupsHausa 53.1%, Zarma/Songhai 21.2%, Tuareg 11%, Fulani (Peuhl) 6.5%, Kanuri 5.9%, Gurma 0.8%, Arab 0.4%, Tubu 0.4%, other/unavailable 0.9% (2006 est.)Berber and Arab 97%, other 3% (includes Egyptian, Greek, Indian, Italian, Maltese, Pakistani, Tunisian, and Turkish)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS31,000 (2020 est.)9,500 (2020)
ReligionsMuslim 99.3%, Christian 0.3%, animist 0.2%, none 0.1% (2012 est.)Muslim (official; virtually all Sunni) 96.6%, Christian 2.7%, Buddhist 0.3%, Hindu <0.1, Jewish <0.1, folk religion <0.1, unafilliated 0.2%, other <0.1 (2010 est.)

note: non-Sunni Muslims include native Ibadhi Muslims (<1% of the population) and foreign Muslims
HIV/AIDS - deaths1,100 (2020 est.)<100 (2020)
LanguagesFrench (official), Hausa, DjermaArabic (official), Italian, English (all widely understood in the major cities); Berber (Nafusi, Ghadamis, Suknah, Awjilah, Tamasheq)

major-language sample(s):
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The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
Literacydefinition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 19.1%

male: 27.3%

female: 11% (2015)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 91%

male: 96.7%

female: 85.6% (2015)
Food insecuritywidespread lack of access: due to civil conflict - according to the latest analysis, about 2.3 million people are assessed to need humanitarian assistance in the June-August 2021 period due to the increase in security incidents which have resulted in widespread disruption of agricultural and marketing activities, diminishing livelihood opportunities for households (2021)severe localized food insecurity: due to civil insecurity, economic and political instability, and high food prices - an estimated 1.3 million people (23% of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance of which 700,000 require food assistance; half of the people in need of humanitarian assistance are internally displaced or migrants that are residing in, or transiting through, the country (2021)
Education expenditures3.5% of GDP (2018)NA
Urbanizationurban population: 16.8% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 4.72% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
urban population: 81% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 1.45% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Drinking water sourceimproved: urban: 95.7% of population

rural: 59.2% of population

total: 65.2% of population

unimproved: urban: 4.3% of population

rural: 40.8% of population

total: 34.8% of population (2017 est.)
improved: total: 98.5% of population

unimproved: total: 1.5% of population (2017 est.)
Sanitation facility accessimproved: urban: 76.6% of population

rural: 12.9% of population

total: 23.3% of population

unimproved: urban: 23.4% of population

rural: 87.1% of population

total: 76.7% of population (2017 est.)
improved: total: 100% of population

unimproved: total: 0% of population (2017 est.)
Major cities - population1.336 million NIAMEY (capital) (2021)1.170 million TRIPOLI (capital), 919,000 Misratah, 836,000 Benghazi (2021)
Maternal mortality rate509 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)72 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight31.3% (2019)11.7% (2014)
Physicians density0.04 physicians/1,000 population (2016)2.09 physicians/1,000 population (2017)
Hospital bed density0.4 beds/1,000 population (2017)3.2 beds/1,000 population (2017)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate5.5% (2016)32.5% (2016)
Demographic profile

Niger has the highest total fertility rate (TFR) of any country in the world, averaging close to 7 children per woman in 2016. A slight decline in fertility over the last few decades has stalled. This leveling off of the high fertility rate is in large part a product of the continued desire for large families. In Niger, the TFR is lower than the desired fertility rate, which makes it unlikely that contraceptive use will increase. The high TFR sustains rapid population growth and a large youth population - almost 70% of the populace is under the age of 25. Gender inequality, including a lack of educational opportunities for women and early marriage and childbirth, also contributes to high population growth.

Because of large family sizes, children are inheriting smaller and smaller parcels of land. The dependence of most Nigeriens on subsistence farming on increasingly small landholdings, coupled with declining rainfall and the resultant shrinkage of arable land, are all preventing food production from keeping up with population growth.

For more than half a century, Niger's lack of economic development has led to steady net outmigration. In the 1960s, Nigeriens mainly migrated to coastal West African countries to work on a seasonal basis. Some headed to Libya and Algeria in the 1970s to work in the booming oil industry until its decline in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, the principal destinations for Nigerien labor migrants have been West African countries, especially Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire, while emigration to Europe and North America has remained modest. During the same period, Niger's desert trade route town Agadez became a hub for West African and other Sub-Saharan migrants crossing the Sahara to North Africa and sometimes onward to Europe.

More than 60,000 Malian refugees have fled to Niger since violence between Malian government troops and armed rebels began in early 2012. Ongoing attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, dating to 2013 in northern Nigeria and February 2015 in southeastern Niger, have pushed tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees and Nigerien returnees across the border to Niger and to displace thousands of locals in Niger's already impoverished Diffa region.

Despite continuing unrest, Libya remains a destination country for economic migrants. It is also a hub for transit migration to Europe because of its proximity to southern Europe and its lax border controls. Labor migrants have been drawn to Libya since the development of its oil sector in the 1960s. Until the latter part of the 1990s, most migrants to Libya were Arab (primarily Egyptians and Sudanese). However, international isolation stemming from Libya's involvement in international terrorism and a perceived lack of support from Arab countries led QADHAFI in 1998 to adopt a decade-long pan-African policy that enabled large numbers of Sub-Saharan migrants to enter Libya without visas to work in the construction and agricultural industries. Although Sub-Saharan Africans provided a cheap labor source, they were poorly treated and were subjected to periodic mass expulsions.

By the mid-2000s, domestic animosity toward African migrants and a desire to reintegrate into the international community motivated QADHAFI to impose entry visas on Arab and African immigrants and to agree to joint maritime patrols and migrant repatriations with Italy, the main recipient of illegal migrants departing Libya. As his regime neared collapse in 2011, QADHAFI reversed his policy of cooperating with Italy to curb illegal migration and sent boats loaded with migrants and asylum seekers to strain European resources. Libya's 2011 revolution decreased immigration drastically and prompted nearly 800,000 migrants to flee to third countries, mainly Tunisia and Egypt, or to their countries of origin. The inflow of migrants declined in 2012 but returned to normal levels by 2013, despite continued hostility toward Sub-Saharan Africans and a less-inviting job market.

While Libya is not an appealing destination for migrants, since 2014, transiting migrants - primarily from East and West Africa - continue to exploit its political instability and weak border controls and use it as a primary departure area to migrate across the central Mediterranean to Europe in growing numbers. In addition, more than 200,000 people were displaced internally as of August 2017 by fighting between armed groups in eastern and western Libya and, to a lesser extent, by inter-tribal clashes in the country's south.

Contraceptive prevalence rate11% (2017/18)27.7% (2014)
Dependency ratiostotal dependency ratio: 109.5

youth dependency ratio: 104.1

elderly dependency ratio: 5.4

potential support ratio: 18.4 (2020 est.)
total dependency ratio: 47.7

youth dependency ratio: 41

elderly dependency ratio: 6.7

potential support ratio: 15 (2020 est.)

Source: CIA Factbook