Nigeria's Population Problem

[Richard Akindele]

Nigeria's population is incredibly high. One of the reasons why Nigeria is so backward is that there are just too many people chasing too few resources in the country.

Although Nigeria is the 9th most populated nation in the world, we happen to be 5th in population density.

The population of the USA is 298 million, but it's population density is only 30. That means there is an average of 30 people/sq kilometer.

Nigeria on the other hand with a population of 150 million, has a population density of 139 people/sq. kilometer! Can you see the diffrence between the USA and Nigeria?

That means there are more people crowded into smaller spaces in Nigeria, than you would find in America. This brings down the standard of living in many respects. For example, instead of one or two people in a house (as is the case in the USA), you find seven or more in Nigeria.

[img]http://www.nairaland.net/forum/images/lagos.jpg[/img]

Nigeria's population problem stems from the people's primitive behavior. In the old days, people had many children to help on the farm. Today, farming isn't that popular anymore, yet the primitive practice of having many children persists.

Most families in Nigeria can hardly afford to provide adequately for one child. Yet, you often find upwards of five children in that same family. What sense does that make? None.

Nigerians need to wake up and realize that we're in a new era now. Having many children that we cannot take care of is a practice that needs to stop for a better standard of living. It's so unfair to the children who end up not being able to realize their full potential in life.

I'm persimistic though that Nigerians can come to such realization on their own without government intervention, in the form of population control.

Population control is the practice of curtailing population increase, usually by reducing the birth rate.

China had an explosive birth rate, the same as Nigeria is having today. In 1979, the Chinese government rightly instituted a one-child per family policy. Take a look at some numbers below and compare China to Nigeria.


In the year 1979:

1 -- China -- 972,136,875
2 -- India -- 671,259,115
3 -- United States -- 225,055,000
4 -- Indonesia -- 147,381,196
5 -- Russia -- 138,163,680
6 -- Brazil -- 120,040,282
7 -- Japan -- 115,890,431
8 -- Bangladesh -- 85,492,214
9 -- Pakistan -- 82,374,302
10 -- Germany -- 78,081,292
11 -- Mexico -- 66,825,878
12 -- Nigeria -- 66,319,068


In 2006:

1 -- China -- 1,313,973,713
2 -- India -- 1,111,713,910
3 -- United States -- 298,444,215
4 -- Indonesia -- 231,820,243
5 -- Brazil -- 188,078,227
6 -- Pakistan -- 165,803,560
7 -- Bangladesh -- 147,365,352
8 -- Russia -- 142,069,494
9 -- Nigeria -- 131,859,731

The numbers speak for themselves. The population of Nigeria in 2006 is estimated at 131 mil. I think it's more like 150 million, which therefore pushes us up to 7th place in the world.

In a few years, India's population would surpass that of China to become the most populous nation in the world. All because the people keep breeding like rabbits. Most of the children end up on the street poor and homeless. All of India's streets are crowded to no end. Same problem obtains in Nigeria today.

The advantages of population control is clear to see. Nigeria needs it in my opinion. What do you think?

[elmahnos8]

That is a hard problem in a certain country that most of the government having debate about that. For me, we can prevent overpopulation by improving the family planning facilities like condoms, pill, and more. And hopefully once they have progressed to a similar economic level, they too will voluntarily reduce their average family sizes.

[BellaRossi]

We welcome anyone to help us creativity solve world population issues.