• Kano records 15.7m, Lagos 13.7m in Nigeria’s 221m population of 2023
No fewer than 3,381,228 persons were internally displaced across 14 states in Nigeria in 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Also, it revealed that Kano remains the most populous state in Nigeria as at 2023 with a projected estimate of 15,671,491 people.

The above data are contained in the Demographic Bulletin 2023 released yesterday in Abuja by the NBS.

The bulletin is a compendium of data collated from administrative sources and surveys to support policy formulation and research.

The report said Borno accounted for the largest share of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), 1,711,481 individuals (50.62 per cent). It was followed by Benue with 394,567 individuals (11.67 per cent) and Katsina with 244,380 individuals (7.23 per cent).

It added that Gombe, Nasarawa and Kano states recorded the lowest shares of IDPs at 52,383; 20,580 and 15,549, respectively.

The report also revealed that Nigeria’s projected population from the National Population Commission (NPC) stood at 221,250,127 in 2023, comprising 112,434,239 males and 108,815,888 females.

At the sub-national level, it showed that Kano recorded the highest population at 15,671,491, followed by Lagos with 13,710,862 and Katsina with 10,661,373.

The report listed Nasarawa and Bayelsa as the least populous states, with 2,948,849 and 2,583,352, respectively.

On reproductive health, the report showed that maternal conditions accounted for the largest share of expenditure in 2022, representing 50.22 per cent of capital spending and 52.46 per cent of recurrent spending.

According to the report, findings from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2021 indicated that the proportion of women with a live birth in the two years preceding the survey who received antenatal care during pregnancy from a skilled provider increased from 50 per cent in 2011 to 67 per cent in 2018.  “However, this proportion decreased slightly to 63 per cent in 2021.”

The report also indicated that Anambra had the lowest proportion of women with unmet needs for birth spacing at 3.8 per cent. “This means that only 3.8 per cent of women in Anambra want to space their births but are not able to access family planning methods.”

The report further indicated that data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the United Kingdom remained the highest source of inward remittances to Nigeria in 2023, contributing $12.38 billion, compared to $12.76 billion recorded in 2022.

It also showed that the United States recorded the highest outward remittance flow at $13.12 million in 2022.

The bulletin reported 968 cases of human trafficking in 2023, covering both foreign and domestic incidents.

It added that foreign travel linked to prostitution accounted for the highest number of cases at 173.