Nigeria’s population hits 216 million in 2022 amid an increase in inflation and poverty rate. This represents 2.7 percent of the world’s population, a report by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has stated.
The report which was released yesterday to commemorate “World Population Day” noted that India would surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023. It added that the global population has grown to 8 billion in 2022.
In 2021, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs put the world population at 7.9 billion with the projection to reach around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100.
According to the report which was sighted by Investors King, more than fifty percent of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in eight countries out of which five are African countries.
The eight countries include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The report added that Sub-Saharan Africa will experience a significant increase in population with the region contributing more than half of the increase anticipated through 2050.
Meanwhile, a closer look at the report shows that Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, is now ranked as the sixth most populous country in the world.
Investors King understands that Nigeria’s sporadic increase in population comes with huge responsibility on the economy that is nearly struggling.
Inflation is at a record high of 21.09 percent while the poverty rate has been growing over the years.
According to the works bank, while the number of poor people in Nigeria stood at 89 million in 2021, it is projected to rise to 95.1 million in 2022.
The underlying factors to the increase in poverty are insecurity, corruption, excessive government spending, lack of social facilities, and the adverse effects of Covid 19 pandemic.