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Nigeria vs. Niger

Demographics

NigeriaNiger
Population219,463,862 (July 2021 est.)

note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
23,605,767 (July 2021 est.)
Age structure0-14 years: 41.7% (male 45,571,738/female 43,674,769)

15-24 years: 20.27% (male 22,022,660/female 21,358,753)

25-54 years: 30.6% (male 32,808,913/female 32,686,474)

55-64 years: 4.13% (male 4,327,847/female 4,514,264)

65 years and over: 3.3% (male 3,329,083/female 3,733,801) (2020 est.)
0-14 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.)
Median agetotal: 18.6 years

male: 18.4 years

female: 18.9 years (2020 est.)
total: 14.8 years

male: 14.5 years

female: 15.1 years (2020 est.)
Population growth rate2.53% (2021 est.)3.65% (2021 est.)
Birth rate34.38 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)47.28 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Death rate8.89 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)10.09 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Net migration rate-0.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)-0.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)
Sex ratioat birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

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

15-24 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 1 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female

total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2020 est.)
at 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.)
Infant mortality ratetotal: 58.23 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 63.67 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 52.46 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)
total: 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.)
Life expectancy at birthtotal population: 60.87 years

male: 59.07 years

female: 62.78 years (2021 est.)
total population: 59.7 years

male: 58.19 years

female: 61.26 years (2021 est.)
Total fertility rate4.67 children born/woman (2021 est.)6.91 children born/woman (2021 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate1.3% (2020 est.)0.2% (2020 est.)
Nationalitynoun: Nigerian(s)

adjective: Nigerian
noun: Nigerien(s)

adjective: Nigerien
Ethnic groupsHausa 30%, Yoruba 15.5%, Igbo (Ibo) 15.2%, Fulani 6%, Tiv 2.4%, Kanuri/Beriberi 2.4%, Ibibio 1.8%, Ijaw/Izon 1.8%, other 24.7% (2018 est.)

note: Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups
Hausa 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.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS1.7 million (2020 est.)31,000 (2020 est.)
ReligionsMuslim 53.5%, Roman Catholic 10.6%, other Christian 35.3%, other .6% (2018 est.)Muslim 99.3%, Christian 0.3%, animist 0.2%, none 0.1% (2012 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths49,000 (2020 est.)1,100 (2020 est.)
LanguagesEnglish (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, over 500 additional indigenous languagesFrench (official), Hausa, Djerma
Literacydefinition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 62%

male: 71.3%

female: 52.7% (2018)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 19.1%

male: 27.3%

female: 11% (2015)
Major infectious diseasesdegree of risk: very high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever

water contact diseases: leptospirosis and schistosomiasis

animal contact diseases: rabies

respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis

aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases: Lassa fever

note: on 7 October 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Travel Health Notice for a Yellow Fever outbreak in Nigeria; a large, ongoing outbreak of yellow fever in Nigeria began in September 2017; the outbreak is now spread throughout the country with the Nigerian Ministry of Health reporting cases of the disease in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory; the CDC recommends travelers going to Nigeria should receive vaccination against yellow fever at least 10 days before travel and should take steps to prevent mosquito bites while there; those never vaccinated against yellow fever should avoid travel to Nigeria during the outbreak
note: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is occurring throughout Nigeria; as of 19 July 2021, Nigeria has reported a total of 169,678 cases of COVID-19 or 82.31 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with 1.03 cumulative death per 100,000 population; as of 19 July 2021, 1.23% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine
degree of risk: very high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever

water contact diseases: schistosomiasis

animal contact diseases: rabies

respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis
Food insecuritywidespread lack of access: due to persistent civil conflict in the northern areas - according to the latest analysis, about 12.8 million people are assessed to be in need of humanitarian assistance in the June-August 2021 period as a result of worsening conflict that is driving new population displacements; over 2.8 million people are estimated to be internally displaced in northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, due to communal clashes in northwestern/northcentral zones and natural disasters; the areas inaccessible to humanitarian interventions are facing the worst food insecurity conditions (2021)widespread 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)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)total: 9 years

male: 9 years

female: 8 years (2011)
total: 6 years

male: 7 years

female: 6 years (2017)
Education expendituresNA3.5% of GDP (2018)
Urbanizationurban population: 52.7% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 3.92% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
urban population: 16.8% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 4.72% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Drinking water sourceimproved: urban: 92.6% of population

rural: 63.6% of population

total: 77.9% of population

unimproved: urban: 7.4% of population

rural: 36.4% of population

total: 22.1% of population (2017 est.)
improved: 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.)
Sanitation facility accessimproved: urban: 80.2% of population

rural: 39.5% of population

total: 59.7% of population

unimproved: urban: 19.8% of population

rural: 60.5% of population

total: 40.3% of population (2017 est.)
improved: 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.)
Major cities - population14.862 million Lagos, 4.103 million Kano, 3.649 million Ibadan, 3.464 million ABUJA (capital), 3.171 million Port Harcourt, 1.782 million Benin City (2021)1.336 million NIAMEY (capital) (2021)
Maternal mortality rate917 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)509 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight18.4% (2019/20)31.3% (2019)
Health expenditures3.9% (2018)7.3% (2018)
Physicians density0.38 physicians/1,000 population (2018)0.04 physicians/1,000 population (2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate8.9% (2016)5.5% (2016)
Mother's mean age at first birth20.4 years (2018 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-49
20.4 years (2012 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-49
Demographic profile

Nigeria's population is projected to grow from more than 186 million people in 2016 to 392 million in 2050, becoming the world's fourth most populous country. Nigeria's sustained high population growth rate will continue for the foreseeable future because of population momentum and its high birth rate. Abuja has not successfully implemented family planning programs to reduce and space births because of a lack of political will, government financing, and the availability and affordability of services and products, as well as a cultural preference for large families. Increased educational attainment, especially among women, and improvements in health care are needed to encourage and to better enable parents to opt for smaller families.

Nigeria needs to harness the potential of its burgeoning youth population in order to boost economic development, reduce widespread poverty, and channel large numbers of unemployed youth into productive activities and away from ongoing religious and ethnic violence. While most movement of Nigerians is internal, significant emigration regionally and to the West provides an outlet for Nigerians looking for economic opportunities, seeking asylum, and increasingly pursuing higher education. Immigration largely of West Africans continues to be insufficient to offset emigration and the loss of highly skilled workers. Nigeria also is a major source, transit, and destination country for forced labor and sex trafficking.

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.

Contraceptive prevalence rate16.6% (2018)11% (2017/18)
Dependency ratiostotal dependency ratio: 86

youth dependency ratio: 80.9

elderly dependency ratio: 5.1

potential support ratio: 19.6 (2020 est.)
total dependency ratio: 109.5

youth dependency ratio: 104.1

elderly dependency ratio: 5.4

potential support ratio: 18.4 (2020 est.)

Source: CIA Factbook