Nigeria: Life and Demographics

Nigeria is ranked as the 8th most populous country in the world and the most populous country in Africa. It populations include a number of ethnic groups and many religions, mainly including Muslims, Christians and believers of aboriginal customs. However, no divided estimates of these populations have been made in the country. The so many religions and Ethnicities have given Nigeria, innumerable cultures and festivals. This draws millions of tourists to the country each year. The primary airport serving Nigeria is Murtala Mohammed International Airport situated in Lagos. Thus demands for Lagos flights are increasing each year.                                                                               

Controversies regarding the census have been raised but the country’s population is believed to be ranging in between 140 and 150 million. The only divided census of Nigerian population contains separate populations of males and females in the country. According to its results, Nigeria is home to nearly 71, 709,859 males outnumbering the women, whose total population is around 68,293,08. It has been estimated that usually one out of every four Africans is a Nigerian and that more than 20% of the world’s black population lives in Nigeria. According to United Nations, Nigeria experiences high fertility and growth rates and birth rate in the country is higher than the death rate. Hence it is expected that by the year 2050, Nigeria will comprise much of the world’s total population.

With the oil boom of the 1970s, education sector in the country has been highly funded which is improving at a very fast pace. Tertiary education (higher education) has especially been taken care of and Nigerian universities are coming up to a good standard. Lagos is the most populous city of Nigeria as it is a commercial, economic and entertainment hub of the country.

Nigeria is home to around 250 ethnicities whose individual populations have never been counted. These groups believe that such censuses are held to give a certain group, numerical superiority. The most populous ethnicities are Hausa, Yorubo and Igbo and these three ethnicities account for 68% of Nigerian population. 27% of the country’s population is comprised by Edo, Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Ebira, Nupe and Tiv and the remaining 7% is comprised by other ethnicities that are in minority.

In addition, many other nationals have arrived in Nigeria for better jobs and life styles. These include; East Indians, Americans, British, Japanese, White Zimbabweans, Greek Syrian and Lebanese as well as many immigrants from other African countries. 

Together, influences from all over the world combining with aboriginal cultures finely blend in Nigeria making it a multi-cultural country. This makes Nigeria a vibrant place and hence of much interest to tourists. This leads to most travelers searching for cheap flights to Nigeria every holiday season.

Today 510 languages are spoken all over Nigeria amongst different ethnicities. Some ethnic groups speak more then one language. The country has two second languages while nine other languages, once spoken on the land are now extinct. English is the official language, mainly due to the effect of British colonization and to symbolize cultural integration. Hence flights to Nigeria take passengers to a land of culture, heritage, harmony and innumerable attractive sights and sounds.