The National Population Commission (NPC) in collaboration with the UNFPA Nigeria launched the 2023 State of the World Population (SWOP) Report at the Frazer Suites, Abuja.
The State of the World Population (SWOP) Report is UNFPA’s annual flagship publication since 1978. It usually come with a theme that spotlights prevailing or emerging population and development concerns with a focus on unique population groups – women, young people, adolescents and girls.
It aimed to bring the issues of population growth and demographic shifts into the mainstream of global attention, exploring the challenges and opportunities they present for international, regional, national and sub-national development in an effort not to leave anyone behind, and proposes recommendations to enhance the health, well-being, and rights of individuals and communities across the globe.
The theme of the 2023 edition of the SWOP Report is “8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities – The Case for Rights and Choices” which aims to reshape the conventional understanding of population figures and calls on policymakers and the media to abandon sensationalized narratives about population booms and busts.
This year’s theme reminded the country of the global achievement recorded on November 15, 2022, when the world became 8 Billion Strong and which placed Nigeria among the eight countries where more than half of the projected increase in the global population will be concentrated up to 2050.
Speakers during the launch of the 2023 SWOP Report stated that given the current and anticipated population growth, Nigeria should make much more investments to provide a quality education that responds to the dynamics of the global labour market, provide adequate and affordable health care including family planning, create decent jobs/employment and entrepreneurship for youth, promote women empowerment and guarantee safety and security of the people. Achievements of these will accelerate economic growth and create opportunities for harnessing the demographic dividend in Nigeria.
The participants also called on the new administration of President Bola Tinubu to prioritize conducting the 2023 Population and Housing Census to generate reliable data for evidence-based planning and implementation of the National Population Policy.
In attendance were the Chairman of the National Population Commission, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, NPC Federal Commissioners and staff, the UNFPA Resident Representative, Ms Ulla Mueller, the Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria, and partners from the diplomatic, humanitarian and development sectors.
