Niger Index

Niger People - 2021

SOURCE: 2021 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

Nationality

noun: Nigerien(s)

adjective: Nigerien

Ethnic groups

Hausa 53.1%, Zarma/Songhai 21.2%, Tuareg 11%, Fulani (Peuhl) 6.5%, Kanuri 5.9%, Gurma 0.8%, Arab 0.4%, Tubu 0.4%, other/unavailable 0.9% (2006 est.)

Religions

Muslim 99.3%, Christian 0.3%, animist 0.2%, none 0.1% (2012 est.)

Niger has the highest total fertility rate (TFR) of any country in the world, averaging close to 7 children per woman in 2016. A slight decline in fertility over the last few decades has stalled. This leveling off of the high fertility rate is in large part a product of the continued desire for large families. In Niger, the TFR is lower than the desired fertility rate, which makes it unlikely that contraceptive use will increase. The high TFR sustains rapid population growth and a large youth population – almost 70% of the populace is under the age of 25. Gender inequality, including a lack of educational opportunities for women and early marriage and childbirth, also contributes to high population growth.

Because of large family sizes, children are inheriting smaller and smaller parcels of land. The dependence of most Nigeriens on subsistence farming on increasingly small landholdings, coupled with declining rainfall and the resultant shrinkage of arable land, are all preventing food production from keeping up with population growth.

For more than half a century, Niger's lack of economic development has led to steady net outmigration. In the 1960s, Nigeriens mainly migrated to coastal West African countries to work on a seasonal basis. Some headed to Libya and Algeria in the 1970s to work in the booming oil industry until its decline in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, the principal destinations for Nigerien labor migrants have been West African countries, especially Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, while emigration to Europe and North America has remained modest. During the same period, Niger’s desert trade route town Agadez became a hub for West African and other Sub-Saharan migrants crossing the Sahara to North Africa and sometimes onward to Europe.

More than 60,000 Malian refugees have fled to Niger since violence between Malian government troops and armed rebels began in early 2012. Ongoing attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, dating to 2013 in northern Nigeria and February 2015 in southeastern Niger, have pushed tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees and Nigerien returnees across the border to Niger and to displace thousands of locals in Niger’s already impoverished Diffa region.

Age structure

0-14 years: 50.58% (male 5,805,102/female 5,713,815)

15-24 years: 19.99% (male 2,246,670/female 2,306,285)

25-54 years: 23.57% (male 2,582,123/female 2,784,464)

55-64 years: 3.17% (male 357,832/female 364,774)

65 years and over: 2.68% (male 293,430/female 317,866) (2020 est.)

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 109.5

youth dependency ratio: 104.1

elderly dependency ratio: 5.4

potential support ratio: 18.4 (2020 est.)

Median age

total: 14.8 years

male: 14.5 years

female: 15.1 years (2020 est.)

Population growth rate

3.65% (2021 est.)

Birth rate

47.28 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)

Death rate

10.09 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)

Net migration rate

-0.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)

Population distribution

majority of the populace is located in the southernmost extreme of the country along the border with Nigeria and Benin as shown in this population distribution map

Urbanization

urban population: 16.8% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 4.72% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Major urban areas - population

1.336 million NIAMEY (capital) (2021)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 0.93 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.92 male(s)/female

total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

20.4 years (2012 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-49

Maternal mortality rate

509 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 68.12 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 73.02 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 63.06 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 59.7 years

male: 58.19 years

female: 61.26 years (2021 est.)

Total fertility rate

6.91 children born/woman (2021 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

11% (2017/18)

Drinking water source

improved: urban: 95.7% of population

rural: 59.2% of population

total: 65.2% of population

unimproved: urban: 4.3% of population

rural: 40.8% of population

total: 34.8% of population (2017 est.)

Current Health Expenditure

7.3% (2018)

Physicians density

0.04 physicians/1,000 population (2016)

Hospital bed density

0.4 beds/1,000 population (2017)

Sanitation facility access

improved: urban: 76.6% of population

rural: 12.9% of population

total: 23.3% of population

unimproved: urban: 23.4% of population

rural: 87.1% of population

total: 76.7% of population (2017 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

0.2% (2020 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

31,000 (2020 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths

1,100 (2020 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever

water contact diseases: schistosomiasis

animal contact diseases: rabies

respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

5.5% (2016)

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

31.3% (2019)

Education expenditures

3.5% of GDP (2018)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 19.1%

male: 27.3%

female: 11% (2015)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 6 years

male: 7 years

female: 6 years (2017)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

total: 16.6%

male: 16.1%

female: 17.5% (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Niger on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Niger 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Niger 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.