- Nigeria's average life expectancy has been put at 55 years
- According to a new report by the United Nations, Nigeria is behind war torn countries like Somalia and Syria where life expectancy rates are better
- The report also revealed that the fertility rate among Nigerian women has dropped from 6.4 in 1969 to 5.3 in 2019
The United Nations (UN) has said that Nigeria has the world’s third lowest life expectancy rate at 55 years.
In the UN’s new report on Monday, April 29, the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) said the life expectancy of an average Nigerian in 2019 is only better than those in countries like Sierra Leone, Chad, and the Central African Republic, Premium Times reports.
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Those countries, according to the UN report, have life expectancy of 53, 54, 54 years respectively.
War torn countries have it better than Nigeria; Afghanistan has 65 years, Somalia has 58, while Syria has a whopping 73 years life expectancy.
The report also stated that the fertility rate among Nigerian women has dropped from 6.4 in 1969 to 5.3 in 2019, meaning that an average Nigerian woman gives birth to at least five children.
According to the report, child marriage in the country by age 18 years is 44% high, while adolescent birth rate at between the ages of 15-19 per 1000 girls in the country is 145.
UN also revealed that the use of contraceptive by any method among Nigerian women aged between 15 and 49 is 19%, while the modern method use among women in the same age bracket is 15%.
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Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that UNFPA said that Nigeria’s current population hit a new high of 201 million.
This is contained in the 2019 state of the world population report which identifies that Nigeria’s growth rate has been at an average of 2.6 per cent from 2010 to 2019.
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Source: Legit.ng
