The highest population densities are in the Igbo heartland in southeastern Nigeria, despite poor soils and heavy emigration. The intensively farmed zones around and including several major cities of the Hausa ethnic group—especially Kano, Sokoto, and Zaria in the north—are also packed with people. Other areas of high density include Yorubaland in the southwest, the central Jos Plateau, and the Tiv homeland in Benue State in the south central region. Densities are relatively low in the dry northeast and in most parts of the middle belt. Ecological factors, including the prevalence of diseases such as sleeping sickness, carried by the tsetse fly, and historical factors, especially the legacy of precolonial slave raiding, help explain these low densities.

A. Urbanization

Nigeria is still a primarily rural country, with only 48 percent of its population living in cities. Urban areas, however, doubled their share of the population between 1970 and 1996. The country has a long history of urban development, particularly in northern and southwestern Nigeria where substantial cities existed centuries before colonial rule. The largest Nigerian cities are Lagos and Ibadan. Lagos, one of the world’s largest cities, grew as colonial Nigeria’s capital and leading port. Despite its loss of the federal capital in 1991 to Abuja, Lagos remains the country’s economic and cultural center. Ibadan, founded as a 19th-century war camp, was the largest precolonial city in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks to massive rural-to-urban migration. Its economy is based largely on agriculture and trade. Another major city is Kano, the largest of the Hausa cities. Kano grew to prominence as the center of a prosperous agricultural district and as a major terminus of trans-Saharan trade. It remains a major commercial, transportation, industrial, and administrative center. Other important cities include the Yoruba centers of Ogbomosho, Oyo, and Ife; the Hausa cities of Zaria, Katsina, and Sokoto; and the newer, colonial-era cities of Kaduna, Jos, and Enugu.

B. Ethnicity

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Nigeria’s three largest ethnic groups—the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo—represent about 70 percent of the population. About 10 percent of the total population consists of several other groups numbering more than 1 million members each, including the Kanuri, Tiv, and Ibibio. More than 300 smaller ethnic groups account for the remaining 20 percent of the population. (However, as in most of Africa, ethnic labels in Nigeria are often imprecise, obscuring differences within groups and similarities among groups.)

The Hausa, concentrated in the far north and in the neighboring Republic of Niger, are the largest of Nigeria’s ethnic nations. Most Hausa are Muslims engaged in agriculture, commerce, and small-scale industry. While most live in smaller towns and villages, others occupy several larger indigenous cities. Many people of non-Hausa origin have become assimilated into the Hausa nation through intermarriage and acculturation. One such group is the Fulani, traditionally a seminomadic livestock-herding people. Many Fulani have settled in Hausa cities and towns and have become part of the Hausa community. Other Fulani continue to depend on their livestock and have retained their own language, Fulfulde, and cultural autonomy.

The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria incorporate seven subgroups—the Egba, Ekiti, Ife, Ijebu, Kabba, Ondo, and Oyo—each identified with a particular paramount chief and city. The oni of Ife is the spiritual head of the Yoruba. There is a strong sense of Yoruba identity but also a history of distrust and rivalry dividing the various groups. The majority of Yoruba are farmers or traders who live in large cities of precolonial origin.

The Igbo of southeastern Nigeria traditionally live in small, independent villages, each with an elected council rather than a chief. Such democratic institutions notwithstanding, Igbo society is highly stratified along lines of wealth, achievement, and social rank. Overcrowding and degraded soil have forced many Igbo to migrate to nearby cities and other parts of Nigeria.

Other large ethnic groups include the Kanuri, centered in Borno State; the Tiv, from the Benue Valley near Makurdi; the Ibibio and Efik in the Calabar area; the Edo from the Benin region; and the Nupe, centered in the Bida area. Although small by Nigerian standards, these lesser groups have more members than most other African ethnicities.

C. Language

Most Nigerians speak more than one language. English, the country’s official language, is widely spoken, especially among educated people. About 400 native Nigerian languages have been identified, and some are threatened with extinction. The most common of the native languages are Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. Other major languages include Fulfulde, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, Efik, Edo, Ijo, and Nupe. The most widely used languages have several distinct regional dialects, and in some regions, such as the Jos Plateau and surrounding middle belt, hundreds of small groups make for wide linguistic variations across short distances. The two main trade languages are pidgin, a distinct language in which English is combined with native languages, used commonly in the south; and Hausa, used mostly in the north.

D. Religion

Adherence to Islam, Christianity, or indigenous African religions is central to how Nigerians identify themselves. Religious affiliation estimates vary, however, due to the lack of census data and the fact that many of Nigeria’s Muslims and Christians adhere to beliefs and practices associated with indigenous religions. Recent estimates suggest that 50 percent are Muslims, 40 percent are Christians, and 10 percent adhere to traditional religions. See also African Religions.

In the late 19th century, Christianity became established in southern Nigeria. In the Yoruba southwest, it was propagated by the Church of England, while in the Igbo southeast the Roman Catholic Church dominated. Today, close to half of the southwestern peoples and far more than half of the southeastern peoples are Christians, divided into Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist sects. Christianity is also widespread in the middle belt, but it is virtually absent in the far north except among migrant populations. In recent years, Protestant fundamentalism has grown, particularly in the middle belt. Nigeria also has many independent African churches, such as Cherubim and Seraphim, which incorporate African cultural practices such as drumming, dancing, and polygyny (multiple wives) into Christianity.

Dominant in the north, Islam continues to spread, especially in the middle belt and in southwestern Nigeria. However, Islamic practices such as the seclusion of women and strict fasting tend to be rigorously observed only in northern cities. Islamic fundamentalism has gained followers since the 1990s and become a potent political force in northern Nigeria.

While specific beliefs vary, Nigerian indigenous religions are usually pantheistic, incorporating a supreme god, deities associated with particular elements of the environment, and spiritual entities associated with local physical landmarks, such as rock formations or rivers. Rituals and ceremonies in honor of deities are undertaken with great care, as they are seen to represent the key to security and prosperity. An example of such ceremonies would be ritual sacrifices, conducted at specific places and times to ensure a bountiful harvest. The Yoruba indigenous religion is of special interest because traditional rituals continue to be an important part of that society’s cultural practices.

E. Education

For generations before the arrival of Europeans, Nigerians taught their children informally about their culture, work, survival skills, and social activities. Some societies gave more formal instruction about society and culture as part of young peoples’ rites of passage into adulthood. In Islamic communities, students studied the Qur’an (Koran) and read other religious texts written in Arabic. Many of the more able students pursued higher Islamic studies and became teachers, clerics, or legal scholars. By 1919 northern Nigeria had about 25,000 Qur’anic schools. A large number of Islamic schools are still in operation.

In Lagos, Calabar, and other coastal cities, Christian missionaries introduced European education in the 1840s. Within a few decades, schooling in English was well established, and some elite families sent their children abroad to study. Enrollments expanded rapidly in the south; were uneven in the middle belt, depending on where missionaries were active; and were virtually nonexistent in the north. Consequently, as late as 1973, fewer than 10 percent of children in the far north were enrolled in primary schools, compared with nearly 90 percent of children in Lagos State. The gap was even greater in secondary and postsecondary schools.

Government reforms in the 1970s led to a primary-school enrollment rate of about 90 percent of all Nigerian children in 1980. The rapid expansion contributed to falling standards of instruction and other problems. By 1990 only 72 percent of children attended the compulsory first six years of education, due to government cutbacks, rising school fees, the deterioration of buildings, inferior instruction, and poor prospects for graduates. Enrollment rates remain lower for girls than boys, primarily because many rural northerners remain skeptical about schooling for girls. In 2002–2003 119 percent of primary school-age children were enrolled in primary school, while the enrollment rate for secondary schools was 36 percent.

Adult literacy is estimated to be 78 percent for men and 64 percent for women—an improvement over years past resulting from universal primary education and programs for adult literacy. Official data, however, estimate literacy only in English, thus discounting the significant level of literacy in Arabic among northern Muslims.

Nigeria has numerous federal- or state-funded universities. The oldest, University of Ibadan, was founded in 1948 as a college of the University of London and became autonomous in 1962. Many of the other prominent universities—University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Obafemi Awolowo University (formerly University of Ife), Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, and University of Lagos—were founded in the years immediately following independence in 1960. In 1970 the University of Benin was opened, followed in 1975 by new universities in Calabar, Ilorin, Jos, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, and Sokoto. Since 1980 several more universities have opened, including institutes specializing in agriculture and technology. A variety of polytechnic schools, including Yaba College of Technology in Lagos and Kaduna Polytechnic, offer nondegree postsecondary programs.

F. Way of Life

Nigerian society varies greatly between urban and rural areas, across ethnic and religious borders, and with levels of education. Still, most Nigerians share a strong attachment to family and especially to children, to clearly differentiated roles for men and women, to a hierarchical social structure, and to the dominance of religion in shaping community values.

Nigerian society functions in a highly patriarchal fashion, with men exerting broad control over the lives of women, who are typically less educated and have limited access to health and social services. Women work far longer hours than men. They perform virtually all housework and child care, as well as (for most women) many hours of income-earning work, especially farming. The exceptions are in some southern states, where women are more active in trade and exert considerable political influence. In northern Muslim communities, especially cities, women are confined to home according to purdah (the seclusion of women from public view). Many women in purdah participate in a hidden trade in craft articles, prepared foodstuffs, and other goods, using children as couriers.

Polygyny is widely practiced among Muslims, among adherents of traditional religions, and among Christians who belong to independent African churches. Among northern Muslims and in many more traditional societies, most girls enter family-arranged marriages near the age of puberty. The daughters of more educated populations, particularly in the south, tend to marry when they are in their late teens or early twenties. Men usually marry at a later age, especially if they come from poorer families that are unable to afford the high cost of weddings and bride-price (payment given to the bride’s family by or on behalf of the future husband).

Social life has traditionally revolved around ceremonies: weddings, infants’ naming ceremonies, and public performances associated with cultural and religious holidays. Young adult males living in cities enjoy going to cinemas, dance clubs, and bars for recreation. Some Muslim women, for example among the Hausa, have their own social institutions revolving around the bori, a cult of spirit possession. Bori ceremonies provide women with a forum for interaction that is relatively free of male control, and offer explanations and remedies that help women cope with problems such as the death of their children.

Clothing in Nigeria symbolizes religious affiliation, wealth, and social standing. Northern Muslim men wear long, loose-fitting garments such as the caftan, together with colorful embroidered hats or (among traditional officials) turbans. Most Yoruba men also wear elaborate gowns and hats, somewhat different in style. Many Nigerians in the south wear casual Western-style dress. Women wear wraparound garments or dresses, typically made from very colorful materials, and beautiful head-ties that may be fashioned into elaborate patterns.

Diets vary regionally and between city and country. Grain-based dishes such as tuwo da miya, a thick sorghum porridge eaten with a spicy, vegetable-based sauce, dominate the northern diet. Dishes made from root crops, such as pounded yam and gari (a granular product made from cassava), are more prevalent in the south. Northerners eat more meat, either in sauces or as kebabs known as tsire. Yogurt and soured milk produced by Fulani pastoralists form an important part of rural northern diets. Modernization and poverty have made cheaper food staples such as cassava, maize (corn), rice, white bread, and pasta increasingly important in both rural and urban areas. Muslims generally do not approve of drinking alcohol, especially northern Muslims, who tend to prefer tea and soft drinks. In the rest of the country, it is common to drink commercially brewed beer or traditional drinks such as beer made from sorghum or millet, and palm wine. Kola nuts are used widely as a stimulant, especially in the north.

Nigerians, particularly youth, are avid sports fans and participants, and by far the most loved game is soccer, known as football. Nigeria’s national football team, the Super Eagles, won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. Several Nigerian footballers have achieved prominence playing professionally in Europe, and all major cities are represented in Nigeria’s highly competitive national football league. Nigerians have also excelled internationally at track and field, particularly in shorter-distance races, and in boxing. Other popular sports are field hockey, basketball, and table tennis.

G. Social Issues

Wealth and power are distributed very unevenly in Nigerian society. The great majority of Nigerians, preoccupied with daily struggles to earn a living, have few material possessions and little chance of improving their lot. Meanwhile, chiefs, rich merchants, politicians, and high-ranking civil servants often accumulate and flaunt massive wealth, which to a degree is expected and accepted in Nigerian society. Most of these elite maintain power through networks of patronage: They secure and distribute labor, and receive political support in return. The system allows for some redistribution of income because patrons often pay for things such as school fees and marriage costs for relatives, community development, and charity work.

Economic inequality has a severe effect on health, especially for children. One-fifth of Nigerian children die before the age of five, primarily from treatable diseases such as malaria, measles, whooping cough, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Less than one-half of infants are immunized against measles, and malnutrition affects more than 40 percent of children under the age of five. Adults are equally affected, although with less deadly consequences. Only 20 percent of rural Nigerians and 52 percent of urban Nigerians have access to safe water. One-third have no access to health care simply because they live too far from clinics or other treatment centers. Many others cannot afford the fees charged by clinics.

While average incomes are higher and death rates lower in cities, urban poverty is as pervasive as rural poverty. Secure, well-paying jobs are scarce, even for those with considerable education. Food is typically expensive. Housing, too, is costly despite its rudimentary quality, prompting the poor to build basic houses in shantytowns. Sewage disposal systems in most cities are also basic or primitive, and polluted streams, wells, roadside drains, and other bodies of water increase the risk of infectious disease. Industry, automobiles, and the burning of fuelwood further pollute air and water.

Crime in Nigeria rose in the mid-1990s as a result of unemployment, economic decline, and social inequality, which are abetted by inefficient and corrupt police and customs forces. More than half of all offenses are thefts, burglaries, and break-ins, although armed robberies are also prominent. Nigeria is a major conduit for drugs moving from Asia and Latin America to markets in Europe and North America. Large-scale Nigerian fraud rings have targeted business people in other parts of the world. The business people are invited to help transfer large sums of money out of Nigeria, with the promise of a share of the transferred money. Advance fees are requested to expedite this transfer, but the advanced money routinely disappears. Although there have been periodic campaigns to root out corrupt politicians and attack crime, they have had little lasting effect.

Nigeria has been wracked by periodic violent clashes between ethnic and religious groups since the 1990s. The reasons behind these clashes have varied from local political disputes to conflicts between fundamentalist Muslims and Christians or moderate Muslims. In many cases, local civic or religious leaders have manipulated these conflicts for political gain.

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