Nigeria to become world’s 3rd most populous nation by 2100

The population of Nigeria has been projected to grow so exponentially in the next seven decades that by 2100 it would have become the third largest in the world, behind India and China.
According to the World of Statistics, Nigeria’s population would have ballooned to a staggering 546 million from its current estimation of 210 million.

Incidentally, the nation was to have held its population census May 3-7 this year, for the first time in 17 years, but it was postponed by the National Population Commission (NPC), which claimed it did so in order to save Nigeria from “a national crisis.”

The Federal Commissioner in Plateau State, Mrs Cecilia Dapoet, who disclosed this in June in a meeting with stakeholders in Jos, said the clarification was necessary to dispel the belief that the postponement was due to lack of funds.

“The Commission is compelled to take necessary steps to correct the impression that the 2023 Population and Housing Census were postponed because of lack of funds but the government’s transition programme and post-election mood in the country,” she said.

Meanwhile, going by the World of Statistics report, the population of China, once the world’s most populous nation, is expected to have fallen by almost half from its current 1.412 billion to 771 million while that of India, which overtook China early this year, is expected to surge further to a staggering 1,533 million by the turn of the century.

The report was, however, silent on the reason for the massive drop in China’s population at the turn of the century, although many advanced nations are facing a drop in their population growths due to the reluctance of citizens to have children.

The fourth most populous nation in 2100 is expected to be Pakistan with 487 million while Congo in fifth with 431 million. Rounding up the top 10 are: US (394m); Ethiopia 323 (323m); Indonesia (297m); Tanzania (244m) and Egypt (205m).