According to a new report released by the UN Department of Economic and
Social Affairs, Nigeria is projected to be the world’s third most
populous country by the year 2050.
The report, titled ‘World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision’, said
with such development, Nigeria would overtake the United States in
terms of population just as world population would reach 9.8 billion
people.
The report partly reads “by 2050, the third most
populous country will be Nigeria, which currently ranks seventh, and
which is poised to replace the United States. Among the 10 largest
countries of the world, one is in Africa (Nigeria). Amongst these,
Nigeria’s population, currently the seventh largest in the world, is
growing the most rapidly. Consequently, the population of Nigeria is
projected to surpass that of the United States shortly before 2050, at
which point it would become the third largest country in the world”.
“In 2050, the populations in six of the 10 largest countries are
expected to exceed 300 million: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria,
Pakistan, and United States of America (in alphabetical order). Although
the African population will remain relatively young for several more
decades, the percentage of its population aged 60 or over is expected to
rise from five per cent in 2017 to around nine per cent in 2050, and
then to nearly 20 per cent by the end of the century.”
The report also noted that the world population, now at least 7.6
billion, was up from 7.4 billion in 2016, adding the concentration of
global population growth is in the poorest countries.