Nigeria is a young country, with 41.6% of population below 14 years of age.
"Nigeria's population has been increasing rapidly for at least the last 5 decades due to very high birth rates, quadrupling its population during this time. Growth was fastest in the 1980s, after child mortality dropped rapidly. It has slowed slightly since then as both the birth rate and total fertility, rate have declined marginally since a 1978 peak."
Over the last 25 years, the country has added 75 million people. And the population was 37 million in 1950, adding 110-120 million people in 50 years.
Total Africa population is 1.54 billion people.
Amongst the top 10 countries, Nigeria's population growth has been perhaps second only to Ethiopia:
Nigeria has 36 states. "The states are further divided into 774 Local Government Areas. "Following two charts show the state-wise distribution and density of population.
Perhaps following interesting question about Nigeria population: (From here)
"Nigeria has a weird system of sharing money among federal states. The more people you have in a state, the more money you get. Since that system got introduced, Nigeria’s population has grown very rapidly. Much faster than its direct neighbour Ghana. Each state has been claiming more and more people.How do we know the population has grown? Estimates! A census was done in 1991, and then done in 2006. For the last 17 years there has been no census. There have been many attempts to have a census, but they always get stopped by one interest or the other. The states do not want the sharing formula of federal revenue to change, and census would change that.So Nigeria claims that it has 220 million people. Lagos claims to have 20 million people. But anyone who has been to an asian city with 15 million people would wonder that Lagos does not seem quite as crowded.If the Nigeria population is not as high as it claims, then it has an impact on the entire sub-saharan Africa. Nigeria is the biggest country in Africa and represents a fifth of the entire population. The extremely high birthrate claimed has also lead to a lot of policies around controlling the birth rate of African by global agencies.What if it’s all exaggerations because some Nigerian states wanted a bit more revenue? What if the entire policies of the world are based on some random law passed by some lawmakers long ago?In this article, I would like us to analyse the actual data to see what the population of Nigeria actually looks like. If we ignore the official estimates, there are different data points that we can use to make an estimate."
This is indeed interesting. And it puts a question mark on various projections that say that Nigeria's popualtion could be close to 700-800 million by the end of the century. In fact, to look at most data as directional, to get a general sense, broad lay of land. The above blogger's estimates are close to half the current noted population of Nigeria.
The capital city of Nigeria is Abuja with a population estimate of 4-6 million. Largest city in Nigeria is Lagos, with a population of 21 million.
Geographically, Nigeria is located on the Gulf of Guinea. It is 923k square kilometers. US is 9.8 million sq km or 10 times the size of Nigeria. India is 3.2 million square km.
Nigeria, an African Country on the Gulf of Guinea, which got her independence in 1960 and became a Republic in 1963. Nigeria runs a bicameral system of government and has 36 states and Federal Capital Territory. All the states are endowed with natural resources.
Following show the key rivers, topography, climate:
Key geographical features:
"The Northern Savanna: The northern part of Nigeria predominantly features an extensive savanna region. This area remains characterized by grasslands, scattered trees, and shrubbery, which form an ideal environment for herding cattle and cultivating grains. As one moves further north, the savanna transitions into the Sahel, a semi-arid zone that acts as a transitional area between the dry Sahara Desert to the north and the savannas to the south. The Sahel experiences sparse and unpredictable rainfall, contributing to its inherently arid nature. Agriculture in this region primarily revolves around hardy, drought-resistant crops and extensive pastoralism."
The Central Highlands: Towards the central region of the country, a series of highlands emerge, including the Jos Plateau. This plateau, peaking at an elevation of about 1,295 meters (4,250 feet), is famous for its unique rock formations and abundant mineral resources. Tin mining is a significant activity in this area. The region's mild climate and rich volcanic soils also promote the growth of a variety of crops, including vegetables, fruits, and tubers.
The Guinea Savanna: Moving southward from the highlands, Nigeria exhibits a transition to the Guinea Savanna, a tropical grassland belt. This region experiences more rainfall than the northern savanna, enabling the growth of taller grasses and more densely populated trees. The region is also the mainstay of Nigeria's agricultural economy, with the cultivation of yam, cassava, and maize dominating the agricultural landscape. The eastern section also contains Chappal Waddi, the highest peak in Nigeria at 2,419 m.
The Rainforest Belt: Further south, Nigeria transitions into the rainforest belt. This region is marked by heavy rainfall, high humidity, and lush vegetation, which includes various species of hardwood trees. The rainforest belt has suffered extensive deforestation due to logging and the conversion of forestland to agricultural uses. However, it still plays a critical role in providing timber and other non-timber forest products.
The Niger Delta: Nigeria's coastal area, also known as the Niger Delta region, is characterized by mangrove forests, swamps, and lagoons. The Niger River, the country's most significant waterway, and its tributaries, drain into the Atlantic Ocean through this delta. The delta is densely populated and constitutes the heart of Nigeria's oil industry. However, this has led to significant environmental challenges, including oil spills and land degradation.
Niger river originates in the highlands of Guinea"
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"Soils in Nigeria, and in Africa generally, are usually of a poorer quality than those in other regions of the world. However, over the centuries Nigerians have utilized agricultural techniques such as slash and burn, intercropping, and the use of shallow planting implements to cope with the shortcomings of the soil. In the precolonial period the country normally produced enough agricultural commodities to feed its population, and it even maintained a surplus for export."
There are over 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria with over 500 languages.
There are an estimated 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria. Each inhabits a territory that it considers to be its own by right of first occupancy and inheritance. Individuals who are not members of a dominant group but who have lived and worked for several decades in the territory of the group are still considered to be aliens. In most rural areas, such aliens may not acquire outright title to land, yet considerable numbers of people have migrated from one ethnic territory to another in search of farmland. There are three major ethnic groups in the country: the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba, and the Igbo.
The northern-dwelling Hausa, one of the most numerous groups in the country, have become integrated with the smaller Fulani group, whose members conquered Hausaland in the early 19th century; the great majority of both are Muslims. Town-dwelling Fulani intermarry freely with the Hausa and other groups, and they continue to control the administration of the Hausa towns. The cattle-herding rural Fulani, who generally do not intermarry, speak the Fulani language, Fula, rather than Hausa.
Another large and politically dominant group is the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria. They consider the city of Ile-Ife their ancestral home and the deity Oduduwa their progenitor. Most Yoruba are farmers but live in urban areas away from their rural farmland. Each Yoruba subgroup is ruled by a paramount chief, or oba, who is usually supported by a council of chiefs. The ooni (oni) of Ile-Ife, who is the spiritual leader of the Yoruba, and the alaafin (alafin) of Oyo, who is their traditional political leader, are the most powerful rulers, and their influence is still acknowledged throughout the Yoruba areas.
The third major ethnic group, the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria, lives in small decentralized and democratic settlements. The largest political unit is the village, which is ruled by a council of elders (chosen by merit, not heredity) rather than by a chief. A smaller proportion live in large towns and are culturally much closer to the Edo of neighbouring Benin City (in Edo state) than to the Igbo east of the lower Niger valley.
Less numerous are the Ibibio, who live near the Igbo and share many of their cultural traits, and the Edo, who created the important precolonial kingdom of Benin. In the middle belt, where the greatest concentration of ethnic groups (more than 180) occurs, the Tiv and the Nupe are the largest groups. Both are settled cultivators, but, while Nupe society is hierarchical, that of the Tiv tends to be decentralized.
Half the country is Muslim, and the other half Christian (of different types). ~55% of the country lives in urban areas.
In 1900, North Nigeria had 8.5 million people and South Nigeria 7.5 million inhabitants. Before the arrival of the British in the late nineteenth century, the pre-colonial epoch was a static era in which the political system existed in various forms. There were different types of state and societies. Broadly, these political systems fell into two categories. The first is the centralized state system (the Yoruba Kingdom and the Sokoto Empire) and the second is referred to as the stateless society (no centralization such as the Ibo). In general, the history of Nigeria’s pre-colonial area was turbulent, with periods when empires took control over large areas, and other periods when the states were more fragmented.
This traditional pattern of ruling was to be affected by the intrusion and direct involvement of Europeans from the bombardment of 1851 in Lagos, the Niger Delta conflicts and Northern areas proclamation in which British Government took the first move towards establishing the colonial rule. The bombardment of Lagos by John Bee Croft in 1851 was the clear indication of the British interest in Nigeria. On the one hand, the British Government tried to end the slave trade and introduce a legitimate trade in Africa. On the other hand, British intruders had also to find and secure a stable market and interest for their fellow citizens
In 1861, after a formal treaty had been signed with Consul John Beecroft, the annexation of Lagos was justified as an aim to develop trade and protect the natives from the slave traders. The annexation was pre-planned as an inevitable consequence of the bombardment. In 1862, Lagos was created as a Colony or Settlement (Burns 131). Thus, the proclamation of Lagos was the first step toward the British official intervention to extend their rule. This step led Britain to penetrate easily into Yoruba land after a series of inter-tribal wars.
Slaves formerly had been traded for European goods, especially guns and gunpowder, but now the British encouraged trade in palm oil in the Niger delta states, ostensibly to replace the trade in slaves. They later discovered that the demand for palm oil was in fact stimulating an internal slave trade, because slaves were largely responsible for collecting palm fruits, manufacturing palm oil, and transporting it to the coast, whether by canoe or by human porterage. The palm oil trade was also linked to the Sokoto jihad and the Yoruba wars, because many warriors recognized the importance of slaves not only as soldiers and producers of food to feed soldiers but additionally as producers of palm oil to trade for European dane guns and other goods.
Many changes accompanied British rule: Western education, the English language, and Christianity spread during the period; new forms of money, transportation, and communication were developed; and the Nigerian economy became based on the export of cash crops. Areas with lucrative crops such as cacao and peanuts (groundnuts) profited, while many people in different parts of the country had to migrate to work elsewhere as tenant farmers or use their newly acquired education and skills to work in cities as wage earners, traders, and artisans. Two tiers of government emerged, central and local. The central government, presided over by the governor-general and accountable to the secretary for the colonies in London, was more powerful but distant from the people. Local administration, where the colonial citizens typically experienced colonial authority, was based on the policy of indirect rule first developed in the north.
And for current context, here is palm-oil production today:
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Here, following is the population distribution of Africa. To note that Nigeria is around 1/6 of African population:
Nigeria Economy
The GDP of the country is close to $200 billion. It is ranked 53rd in the world. (For context, USA, largest economy is $27.72 trillion.) It is fourth largest in Africa. The largest African economy is South Africa with over $400 billion GDP (63m pop), followed by Egypt with $380 billion (115m pop). Third largest is Algeria with ~$260 billion GDP (46m pop).
Given its population, Nigeria ranks fairly low on per capita GDP even in Africa.
Agriculture is ~22.7% of GDP, Services ~43% and industry 33%.
Like in most thriving economies nowadays, the services sector is gaining momentum in Nigeria, because more and more people are moving from the countryside to the cities to find jobs. Nigeria is a mixed economy which focuses mainly on telecommunications, financial services, and technology, a strategy that is likely to pay off in the future and will see its GDP soaring. Nigeria’s reliance on oil is also an important contributor to its economic success; between 2001 and 2010, it was one of the countries with the highest GDP growth worldwide. However, oil prices are also responsible for a GDP growth slump in 2016 and for the first trade deficit in over a decade.
On PPP basis, the numbers are in a wide range. Still, this infographic for quickref:
The population translates to ~50 million households.
"The country has abundant natural resources, notably large deposits of petroleum and natural gas"
Nigeria is the largest oil producing country in Africa. Following are some charts around the oil reserves and production:
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