Experts say Nigeria’s population may surge to 450 million by 2050 if urgent action is not taken to address the growing population.
An expert in family planning, Dr. Ejike Orji said this during a conference organised by the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Abuja on Tuesday.
“If we continue with the same fertility rate that we have now, our population is going to be driven to 450 million by 2050.
“If we do not bring down our fertility rates, by the year 2050, we will be 450 million, based on the percentage increase every year. Every year, we add about four million people to our population. So if you look at that, you know that it’s going to be a lot of problems for us.
“Remember that the increase is geometric. It’s not that it will stop at four million because there’s a percentage driving it. It’s four million this year; next year, it might be 4.2 million; the following year, it might be 4.5 million; it may get to a point where it might be five million or 10 million every year,” he said.
