One in every 17 babies born in the world today is born in Nigeria. Nigeria has about 7,700,000 births a year, around 5.8% of all births worldwide.

Births per year
7,700,000
Share of world births
5.8%
Birth odds
1/17
Life expectancy
54 years
Risk of dying before age 5
10.7%
Income per person, PPP
$5,800
Children per woman
5.1
Urban population
54%

Life expectancy in Nigeria is 54 years, which is 19 years shorter than the world average.

Of every 1,000 babies born here, about 107 do not reach their fifth birthday. That is 2.9 times the world average.

Income per person is about $5,800 in purchasing power. That is only 25% of the world average.

On average a woman has 5.1 children in her lifetime. The world average is 2.3.

About 54% of the population lives in cities. A baby born here has roughly a 46% chance of being born in the countryside.

Born in Nigeria: a fast-growing population and a hard start

Life expectancy in Nigeria was around 40 in the 1960s and is 54 today. There has been progress, but the figure is well below the world average. Infant and child deaths are the main reason. Malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition remain the illnesses that hit young children hardest, and maternal deaths at birth are high. The number of children per woman is 5.1 and falls only slowly. According to UN projections, the country is expected to overtake the United States in the medium term and become one of the most populous in the world.

The gap between north and south is wide. In the north fertility and child deaths are higher and fewer girls go to school. In big southern cities such as Lagos, services are easier to reach. A mother's education, the distance to a health center and clean water do the most to decide whether a Nigerian baby survives the first five years. In many parts of the country a large share of births still happen at home without a trained health worker.

Religious makeup

  • Islam50%
  • Christianity48%
  • Folk beliefs2%

Sample names given to people born in this country in the game

Chinedu · Kwame · Ibrahim · Emeka · Amara · Ngozi · Aisha · Adwoa

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Countries with a similar number of births

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Values are rounded approximations. Sources: UN World Population Prospects 2024, World Bank WDI, Pew Research Center 2020.