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The dominant ethnic group in the northern two-thirds of the country is the Hausa-Fulani, the overwhelming majority of whom are Muslim. Other major ethnic groups of the north are the Nupe, Tiv, and Kanuri. The Yoruba people are predominant in the southwest. Over half of the Yorubas are Christian and about a quarter are Muslim, with the remainder following mostly traditional beliefs. The predominantly Christian Igbo are the largest ethnic group in the southeast. Roman Catholics are the largest denomination, but Pentecostal and other Evangelical denominations are also strong. The Efik, Ibibio, and Ijaw (the country's fourth-largest ethnic group) communities also comprise a substantial segment of the population in that area. Persons of different language backgrounds most commonly communicate in English, although knowledge of two or more Nigerian languages is widespread. Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo are the most widely used Nigerian languages.
=Statistics=
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2 Age Structure: 3 Vital Statistics 4 Nationality: 5 Ethnic groups: 6 Religions (2000 estimate) 7 Languages 8 Literacy |
Population growth rate:
2.67% (2000 est.)
Birth rate:
40.16 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Death rate:
13.72 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Net migration rate:
0.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Sex ratio:
Infant mortality rate:
74.18 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
Total fertility rate:
5.66 children born/woman (2000 est.)
It should also be noted that an estimated 8 million Nigerians belong to more than one Christian denomination, and unrecorded transferal of membership between diverse Protestant and "African Christian" bodies is widespread. Accordingly, the denominational membership totals add up to considerably more than the total number of Chirsitans in Nigeria.
Population
123,337,822
note:
estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2000 est.)Age Structure:
0-14 years:
44% (male 27,181,020; female 26,872,317)
15-64 years:
53% (male 33,495,794; female 32,337,193)
65 years and over:
3% (male 1,729,149; female 1,722,349) (2000 est.)Vital Statistics
at birth:
1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
1 male(s)/female
total population:
1.02 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
total population:
51.56 years
male:
51.58 years
female:
51.55 years (2000 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Nigerian(s)
adjective:
NigerianEthnic groups:
Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups; the following are the most populous and politically influential: Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%Religions (2000 estimate)
NOTE: The figures below are controversial, and come from a Christian source (Operation World, 2000, by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk). For political reasons, no religious question has been included in any census since 1963, the results of which were widely disputed. Moslems and Christians both claim to be in the majority.Languages
English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, and others
Literacy
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
57.1%
male:
67.3%
female:
47.3% (1995 est.)