Life Expectancy In Nigeria Moves To 55 Years

The 2018 average life expectancy for Nigerians is now 55 years, a global data shows.

According to the latest World Health Organisation data published for 2018 life expectancy in Nigeria, a male given birth to in Nigeria in 2018 is expected to live approximately 54.7 years while a female is expected to live approximately 55.7 years in good health. The data shows Nigeria has a World life expectancy ranking of 178 out of 192 ranked countries.

However, the average life expectancy at birth in Nigeria is 55.2 years, an improvement from the previous figure, 47.

Meanwhile, the released statistical report by Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for 2017 has it that females can live for approximately 51 years while males can live for just 47 years.

The report shows that residents in Nigeria are liable to die of sicknesses and diseases, as well as other causes.

Causes of death listed in the report are influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases, stroke, HIV/AIDS, coronary heart disease, liver disease, prostate cancer, diabetes mellitus, maternal conditions, malaria, breast cancer, meningitis, cervical cancer, lung disease and low birth weight.

Other causes include accident, road traffic and birth trauma among others.

A study published last week had said life expectancy in Nigeria can increase to 74.8 years by 2040.

The study, “Forecasting life expectancy, years of life lost, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 250 causes of death: reference and alternative scenarios for 2016–40 for 195 countries and territories using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016,” was carried out by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

IHME is an independent global health research organisation at the University of Washington that provides a rigorous and comparable measurement of the world’s most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them.