A Brief Look at The Nigerian Population Growth Since 1950
Population is the totality of the number of persons domicile in a country. Population growth can simply be seen as the continuous increase in the population of a country. Nigeria has been experiencing rapid growth in population since 1950 till date.
For better understanding we are going to use the table below to show how the population of Nigeria has been over the years since 1950.
Nigeria population growth rate (1950-2018)
| Year | Population | Growth rate | World rank |
| 1950 | 37,859,744 | 1.49% | 13 |
| 1960 | 45,137,812 | 2% | 13 |
| 1970 | 55,981,400 | 2.31% | 11 |
| 1980 | 73,460,724 | 2.9% | 11 |
| 1990 | 95,269,988 | 2.61% | 10 |
| 2000 | 122,352,009 | 25,3% | 10 |
| 2010 | 158,578,261 | 2.7% | 7 |
| 2018 | 195,875,237 | 2.61% | 7 |
Table showing Nigeria population (worldometers.com)
From the table above we can observe that the population of Nigeria as been increasing rapidly yearly since 1950 till date. As a matter of fact, the total population increased from 37,859,744 in 1950 to about 195,875,237 in 2018, which is an addition of 158,015493 persons within 68 years.
As at January 2019 the population of Nigeria is about 198,472,526 and by December it is estimated to be about 200,962,417 with a growth rate of 2.6%.
The population of Nigeria has been forecasted to even move higher than what is currently experienced. In fact, Nigeria’s population is expected to be the 3rd largest in the world by 2050 just behind China and India.
Forecast of Nigeria population
| Year | Population | Country share of
World population |
World rank |
| 2020 | 206,152,701 | 2.64 % | 7 |
| 2025 | 233,691,888 | 2.85 % | 5 |
| 2030 | 264,067,527 | 3.09 % | 5 |
| 2035 | 297,323,173 | 3.34 % | 5 |
| 2040 | 333,172,092 | 3.62 % | 4 |
| 2045 | 371,119,359 | 3.90% | 4 |
| 2050 | 410,637,868 | 4.20 % | 3 |
Table showing Nigeria population forecast (worldometers.com)
Keynotes:
- Nigeria as the highest population in Africa
- Nigeria is the most populous black (Negroid) nation on earth
- Nigeria as the seventh highest population in the world
- Nigeria accounts for about 2.6% of the world’s total population
- Nigeria as a population density of 221 per km square
- Nigeria’s total land area is 910,770 km square
- Nigeria has a median age of 17.9 years
- Nigeria as at Jan. 2019 as a total of about 104,282,822 people (51.9% of the total population) living in urban areas.
Population growth plays both negative and positive development in an economy. What this means is that population growth can boost economic development.
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