Population may hit 400 million by 2050 – Minister

The Minister for State for Health, Joseph Ekumankama, has said without effective population policies to reduce the high fertility rate, Nigeria will be about the fourth or fifth most populous country in the world with a projected population of about 400 million by 2050.

He said the demographic trend had implications for Nigeria’s economic development because the youth population was dependent.

Ekumankama said, “Without effective population policies to reduce the high fertility rate, Nigeria will be about the fourth or fifth most populous country in the world with a projected population of about 400 million by 2050.

“It will then mean that rapid population will put substantial pressure on the country’s capacity to provide quality social services such as foods, clinics, and adequate sanitation and other basic needs.”

The minister added that achieving the commitment of the modern contraceptive prevalence rate of 27 per cent by 2030 was a beautiful milestone in ensuring universal access to reproductive health.

Meanwhile, the number of Nigerian women using modern contraceptive methods is 12 per cent while 19 per cent of women have an unmet need for family planning.

This is according to the latest figure by the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning.

The unmet need for family planning is the percentage of women who want to stop or delay childbearing but who are not currently using any method of contraception to prevent pregnancy.

Modern contraceptive methods for family planning include male and female condoms, intrauterine devices, injectables, implants, pills, and emergency contraception.

Speaking on the prevalence rate at the seventh Nigeria Family Planning Conference with the theme ‘Journey to 2030: The opportunities ahead,’ the Chairman of the AAFP and NFPC, Dr. Ejike Oji, said the mCPR was low despite efforts by the government and the development partners.

He said, “The low utilisation of family planning services has contributed to Nigeria’s poor maternal and child health outcomes, an existing maternal mortality rate of 512/100,000 live births, a high total fertility rate of an average of six children per woman which contributes to the rapid population growth rate of 3.2 per cent, that impacts negatively on the country’s development and health situations.”

(Punch)