Nigeria, World News, Population Explosion

From: http://www.google.com

Nigeria teeters on the edge of a “demographic disaster” unless its stagnant economy rapidly expands to support its teeming youth population, according to a report released Wednesday.

Estimates in the report by the British Council show Nigeria’s population of 150 million people will swell by another 63 million people by 2050, making it the fifth most populous countries in the world.

Nigeria will have a ready supply of workers into the future with more than 40 percent of the West African nation’s younger than 14.

However, the oil-rich nation’s gross domestic product remained flat as its population multiplied in the last two decades, leaving it dangerously out of balance unless true economic development takes hold, the report said.

“Large cohorts of unemployed or underemployed young people destabilize their societies, fueling crime and creating conditions where civil conflict becomes more likely,” it said. “Instead of collecting a dividend, a country that is not well prepared to make the most of its Baby Boom generation can find itself in the midst of a demographic disaster.”

To avoid that chaos, the report urges Nigeria’s government to step away from relying solely on its crude oil revenues and encourages investment in emerging industries like telecommunication and manufacturing.