There are a lot of demography and social statistics facts about Nigeria you may not know! Naij.com will try to reveal to you the full data about demography and social statistics in Nigeria. Take a look at the top 5 social and demography statistics in Nigeria!
Demographic Meaning
Demography is a word coined from two ancient Greek words - Demo (meaning people) and Grapho (meaning writing).
Demography is the study of the human population based on different contects. There are four crucial aspects of demography changes:
- Death;
- Birth;
- Migration;
- Ageing.
These aspects can help to analyze the overall information about the population. This will then be useful for making some necessary changes in politics and social programmes to ensure the stable growth of the population. Demography of Nigeria population may be based on various criteria depending on the kind of analysis, like:
- Ethnicity;
- Religion;
- Nationality;
- Education;
- Income.
Even if it sounds a little bit difficult, you can also make some basic conclusions about your country population by yourself. For instance, how will you know the expected population of country X at time t+1 when you know the statistics of t?
It`s a simple strategy!
Population(t+1) equals Population (t) plus Natural Increase (t) plus Net Migration (t)!
You know the Population (t), but you don`t know Natural Increase (t), just use the following equation to find it:
Natural Increase equals Births (t) minus Deaths (t)
Stop! You still do not know Net Migration (t), well, it`s also very simple – just use the following equation:
Net Migration (t) equals Immigration (t) minus Emigration (t)
Now you know basics of demography!
What is social Statistics?
It`s more narrowed than demography. Social statistics requires a certain social environment to conduct the experiments. It can be made by polling a group of people or evaluate data about people`s behavior. Scientists can use the social statistics for various reasons, like:
- Evaluating quality of services;
- Analyzing the behavior of groups under various circumstances;
- Determining the needs of people!
Therefore, if you want to talk about scales of date, then you need to look into the demography. At the same time, if you want to have a more specific data about social behavior, then you need to conduct social statistics.
Demography History
The first demographic notes were traced to ancient China, India, Rome, and Greece. A number of personalities in the Ancient Greece touched on the issue of demography:
- Aristotle;
- Plato;
- Protagoras;
- Epicurus;
- Hippocrates;
- Herodotus.
Ancient Rome also has great demographers:
- Cato;
- Epictetus;
- Aurelius;
- Seneca;
- Cicero.
Important contributions were also made Europeans:
- William of Pagula;
- William of Auvergne;
- Bartholomew of Lucca;
- William of Conches.
Interesting decisions were made in 19th and 20th by the following demographers:
- Luigi Bodio;
- Wilhelm Lexis;
- Emile Durkheim;
- Richard Bockh;
- Nicolas Kaier;
- Joseph Korosi;
- Louis-Adolphe Bertillon;
- William Farr;
- Adolphe Quetelet
History of Demography in Nigeria
The demography statistics of Nigeria started in 1950. The colonial authorities also took some notes about the population prior to this, but due to the underdevelopment of the country, they did not pay much attention to demography. It was only in 1950 that the Nigerian demographers started to take records of the Nigerian population.
Top 5 Facts of Demography in Nigeria
READ ASLSO: History of recession in Nigeria
1. Population
Nigerian population continues to grow. Since the 1950s, the population of Nigeria has risen times six. In 1952, the population of Nigeria consisted of 30 million people. Today, it consists of 191 million people. The fastest growth was noted in the 1980s. It was due to the fall of children mortality rates.
2. Ethnic Combination
According to CIA data, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. It consists of 250 ethnic groups. The most influential ethnic group is called Hausa, about 29%. Just take a look at the ethnic statistics of Nigeria:
- Tiv – 2.5%;
- Ibibio – 3.5%;
- Kanuri – 4%;
- Ijaw – 10%;
- Igbo 18%;
- Yoruba 21%;
- Hausa/Fulani – 29%.
Therefore, the most influential ethnic group in the population demography of Nigeria is Hausa/Fulani.
3. Religion
The country is largely divided between Christians and Muslims. According to CIA data, the most populated religion in Nigeria is Islam. Every second citizen of Nigeria is Muslim (around 50% of the population). Nigeria is also home for Christians! About 40% of the country`s population is devoted to Christian Religion (most of them are protestants). About 10% of people prefer to use other religious beliefs.
4. Age Structure
According to CIA statistics, the biggest part of Nigeria is children population. About 42.79% of Nigerians are children. The second biggest part of the population is adults between 25-54 years old (30.65%). The smallest population group is seniors. They take only 3.12% of the population.
5. Women/men
In all age categories, the male population is bigger than female population. The biggest difference between male and female population is noticed in children population. There are only 38,870,303 females against 40,744,956 males.
Demography and Social Statistics in Nigeria
These categories are extremely crucial for the Nigerian economy. They can provide the current situation of Nigeria population. This means that the demography of Nigeria population is another matter to think about when talking of restoring the economy.
READ ALSO: Current affairs in Nigeria or why Biafra wants separation
