RipplesMetrics: Population growth in northern Nigeria double that of south, as Borno registers 2m babies in 3 years

The population of Nigeria has increased by 15.9 million in four years with the northern regions accounting for 68.67% of the new population.

This is based on figures from the National Bureau of Statistics’ latest report on Nigeria’s demographics, using data from the National Population Commission.

The study showed that Nigeria’s population increased from 186.1 million to 201.1 million between 2016 and 2019, an increase of 8 percent.

Out of this increase, 10.1 million were from 19 northern states, as total population from the region hit 128.17 million in 2019, from 117.8 million in 2016.

The 18 Southern states registered 5.85 million population growth to a total 92.2 million, from 86.3 million in 2016.

What this means is that for every 10 new children in Nigeria born between 2016 and 2019, seven were from the northern states.

Southern married women opt for contraceptives

NBS data also showed that more Nigerian women from the south are using contraceptives to prevent pregnancy compared to the northern states.

According to NBS, Anambra state has the highest number of married women who used contraceptives to control their birth (27.4 percent) while Yobe state had the lowest with 1.7 percent.

This decision is reflected in the number of children registered each year across the country.

In 2017, Kano State had the highest registered live births in the country with 415,598 while in 2018 and 2019, Borno State recorded the highest in the country with 863,592, and 879,524 respectively.

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On the other hand, Bayelsa recorded the least total National Birth Registrations with 220 in 2017, 234 in 2018, and 199 in 2019.

“The North-West and the North-East continue to maintain a steady lead in birth registration in the country from (2017-2019), the two zones recorded 29.7 percent in 2018 and 29.1 percent in 2019,” NBS stated.

From NBS records, the South-East and South-South are the lowest regions when it comes to birth registration.

What this means

From the analysis above, it shows that northern states’ population is not only growing almost twice as fast as the south, it is also growing faster than Nigeria’s population growth rate!

Nigeria’s total population growth rate in four years is 8%, southern states-6.78%, but the northern states increased by 8.74%.

With the growing wave of insecurity, unemployment, and poverty, it is imperative that the Nigerian government implements policies to help the economy grow faster than the country’s population, otherwise the country’s problems will get worse.

 

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