The total population in Nigeria was last recorded at 166.2 million people in 2012 (from 45.2 million in 1960). The National Population Commission (NPC) expects that Nigeria’s population will hit the 170 million mark this year. About 63% of the population is under 25, and unemployment is at 23.9%, with youth unemployment in particular at about 37%.

The UN predicts that Africa – and Nigeria in particular – will be at forefront of a huge global population rise over next century: Nigeria's population is expected to surpass that of the US by 2050.

New UN projections predict the country could be the world's third most populous by the end of this century (the global Population Reference Bureau (PRB) projects it will be the world's fourth most populous country, with 400 million people - just less than the projected figure for the United States, even with only one tenth of its territory.)

THIS MAY BE GOOD FOR THE RETAILERS ABROAD, BUT COULD BE BAD FOR LOW INCOME EARNERS, AND SLUGGISH LOCAL MANUFACTURERS

Official figures say absolute poverty rose to 60 percent last year (from 54.7 percent in 2004), and this is worsened by rapid population growth. Some 100 million Nigerians are said to live in poverty.

More than half of the growth predicted between now and 2050 is expected in Africa; the number of people is set to more than double, from 1.1 billion to 2.4 billion. Africa's population expected to continue to rise, even if there is a future drop in the average number of children each woman has (currently about 5).

India is currently the world's second-largest country by population, and is expected to rival China in size soon as 2028, when both nations will each have about 1.45 billion citizens. After 2030, China is expected to shrink in numbers, reaching an estimated 1.1 billion by the end of this century, when India's population is projected to reach about 1.5 billion.

AN AGING POPULATION

Today, the average person is 29 years old. This is expected to increase to 36 by 2050 (probably due to later marriage and technological advancement alongside an already ageing population). In less than 10 years, the UN expects that more than one billion people in the world will be 60 years old, or older.

The world population edged to 7 billion people in 2011 (up from 2.5 billion in 1950), and will probably be 8 billion by 2030.

EVEN WITH – AND PROBABLY BECAUSE OF – TECHNOLOGY, DO YOU IMAGINE THIS COULD BE A PROBLEM FOR COUNTRIES; ESPECIALLY ONE SUCH AS NIGERIA?

In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that 11 July should be observed by the international community as World Population Day.

This year, the focus is on Adolescent Pregnancy.

About 16 million girls under age 18 give birth each year. Another 3.2 million undergo unsafe abortions. 90 per cent of pregnant adolescents in the developing world are married, but pregnancy is often not an informed choice.

For countries such as Nigeria – which is still grappling with maternal and child mortality – this poses a problem. About 16 million girls in the world aged 15-19 give birth each year, and complications from pregnancy and child birth are the leading cause of death among girls in this age group, especially in developing countries.

(References: UNFP; The Guardian)