Nigeria is expected to have an estimated 25,685 new born babies added to its existing population on New Year day, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says.
This figure makes up 6.5 percent of the estimated 395,072 babies born globally on New Year day, and about 40 percent and 23 percent of those born in West/Central Africa, and in sub-Saharan Africa, respectively.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the country’s population at 198 million people. If this estimate falls through, the country’s population may hit over 207 million by year-end 2019, according to BusinessDay estimate, depending on the number of deaths recorded in the year.
“Globally, over half of the world’s births are estimated to take place in just eight countries, including Nigeria,” Pernille Ironside, UNICEF Nigeria’s acting representative, said on Monday in a statement to the News Agency of Nigeria.
“At current life expectancy rate, a child born in Nigeria today is likely to live only to the year 2074, which is 55 years of age, while those born in Denmark are likely to live until the 22nd century,” Ironside said.
The statement noted also that only children born in three countries today have a lower life expectancy than that of Nigerian children, including Central African Republic, Chad and Sierra Leone.
In October this year, Nigeria’s acting finance minister, Zainab Ahmed had said the country’s increasing population growth is one of the greatest challenges confronting the successful implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
According to Ahmed, the Federal Government has been engaging critical stakeholders like traditional and religious leaders to advise their members on child spacing … a measure she said will help curb the country’s escalating population growth.
This statement however sparked up criticisms among analysts who spoke with BusinessDay, as they claimed that an increasing population if checked properly could serve as a plus to a nation.
“We do not think the rising population should pose a threat to the growth of the economy considering the vast amount of natural and mineral resources that the country is endowed with, majority of which are still untapped,” analysts at CSL Stockbrokers, a subsidiary of First City Monument Bank Group, said.
“In fact, a growing population provides a nation with robust human capital needed for productive purposes as well as a large market for goods and services produced. However, where it is not harnessed or utilised effectively, as is the case of Nigeria, it becomes detrimental to the growth and development of the nation,” the stock broking firm said.
According to UNICEF, about one million babies died the day they were born in 2017 globally, while 2.5 million died in just their first month of life.
It said that in Nigeria, about 262,000 babies die at birth each year, the world’s second highest national total; while 257 babies die within their first month of life.
“Among these children, most died from preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections such as sepsis and pneumonia, a violation of their basic right to survival”,
However, more could be done to ensure children born in Nigeria survive their first day of life. “In Nigeria today, only one out of every three babies is delivered in a health centre, decreasing a newborn baby’s chance of survival and this is just one of the issues that need to be addressed in order to improve the chances of survival of those babies born today and every day”.
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