Current Environmental Issues: soil degradation; rapid deforestation; urban air and water pollution; desertification; oil pollution - water, air, and soil; has suffered serious damage from oil spills; loss of arable land; rapid urbanization

Geography

Source: CIA

Location: Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon

Geographic Coordinates: 10 00 N, 8 00 E

Area:

total: 923,768 sq km
land: 910,768 sq km
water: 13,000 sq km

Land Boundaries:

total: 4,047 km
border countries: Benin 773 km, Cameroon 1,690 km, Chad 87 km, Niger 1,497 km

Coastline: 853 km

Maritime Claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Natural Hazards: periodic droughts; flooding

Terrain

Southern lowlands merge into central hills and plateaus; mountains in southeast, plains in north

Elevation Extremes:

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Chappal Waddi 2,419 m

Climate

Varies; equatorial in south, tropical in center, arid in north

Government

Government Type: Federal Republic

Capital: Abuja

Independence Date: 1 October 1960 (from UK)

Legal System: based on English common law, Islamic law (in 12 northern states), and traditional law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

People and Society

Population: 138,283,240

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 42.2% (male 29,378,127/female 28,953,864)
15-64 years: 54.7% (male 38,466,129/female 37,172,355)
65 years and over: 3.1% (male 2,046,309/female 2,266,456) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 2.382% (2008 est.)

Birth Rate: 39.98 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 16.41 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: 0.25 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth:

total population: 47.81 years
male: 47.15 years
female: 48.5 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 5.41 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Languages: English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 68%
male: 75.7%
female: 60.6% (2003 est.)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 286.2 cu km (2003)

Freshwater Withdrawal:

total: 8.01 cu km/yr (21%/10%/69%)
per capita: 61 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agriculture Products: cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish

Irrigated Land: 2,820 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: natural gas, petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, arable land

Land Use:

arable land: 33.02%
permanent crops: 3.14%
other: 63.84% (2005)

Energy

Health

Prevalence Rate of HIV/AIDS in Adults: 5.4% (2003 est.)

Major Infectious Diseases:

degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria and yellow fever
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
aerosolized dust or soil contact disease: one of the most highly endemic areas for Lassa fever
water contact disease: leptospirosis and shistosomiasis
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2008)

Conflict

International Disputes:

Joint Border Commission with Cameroon reviewed 2002 ICJ ruling on the entire boundary and bilaterally resolved differences, including June 2006 Greentree Agreement that immediately cedes sovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon with a phase-out of Nigerian control within two years while resolving patriation issues; the ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but imprecisely defined coordinates in the ICJ decision and a sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River all contribute to the delay in implementation; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: refugees (country of origin): 5,778 (Liberia)
IDPs: undetermined (communal violence between Christians and Muslims since President OBASANJO's election in 1999; displacement is mostly short-term) (2007)

Illicit Drugs: a transit point for heroin and cocaine intended for European, East Asian, and North American markets; consumer of amphetamines; safe haven for Nigerian narcotraffickers operating worldwide; major money-laundering center; massive corruption and criminal activity; Nigeria has improved some anti-money-laundering controls, resulting in its removal from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF's) Noncooperative Countries and Territories List in June 2006; Nigeria's anti-money-laundering regime continues to be monitored by FATF

Economy

Oil-rich Nigeria, long hobbled by political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and poor macroeconomic management, is undertaking some reforms under a new reform-minded administration. Nigeria's former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from its overdependence on the capital-intensive oil sector, which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 80% of budgetary revenues. The largely subsistence agricultural sector has failed to keep up with rapid population growth - Nigeria is Africa's most populous country - and the country, once a large net exporter of food, now must import food. Following the signing of an IMF stand-by agreement in August 2000, Nigeria received a debt-restructuring deal from the Paris Club and a $1 billion credit from the IMF, both contingent on economic reforms. Nigeria pulled out of its IMF program in April 2002, after failing to meet spending and exchange rate targets, making it ineligible for additional debt forgiveness from the Paris Club. In the last year the government has begun showing the political will to implement the market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF, such as to modernize the banking system, to curb inflation by blocking excessive wage demands, and to resolve regional disputes over the distribution of earnings from the oil industry. In 2003, the government began deregulating fuel prices, announced the privatization of the country's four oil refineries, and instituted the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy, a domestically designed and run program modeled on the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility for fiscal and monetary management. In November 2005, Abuja won Paris Club approval for a debt-relief deal that eliminated $18 billion of debt in exchange for $12 billion in payments - a total package worth $30 billion of Nigeria's total $37 billion external debt. The deal requires Nigeria to be subject to stringent IMF reviews. GDP rose strongly in 2007, based largely on increased oil exports and high global crude prices. Newly-elected President YAR'ADUA has pledged to continue the economic reforms of his predecessor and the proposed budget for 2008 reflects the administrations emphasis on infrastructure improvements. Infrastructure is the main impediment to growth. The government is working toward developing stronger public-private partnerships for electricity and roads.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $292.7 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $166.8 billion (2007 est.)

GDP- real growth rate: 6.4% (2007 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $2,000 (2007 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 17.6%
industry: 52.7%
services: 29.7% (2007 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line: 70% (2007 est.)

Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share:

lowest 10%: 1.9%
highest 10%: 33.2% (2003)

Industries: crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel, small commercial ship construction and repair

Exports: petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber

Export Partners: US 51.2%, Brazil 7.9%, Spain 7.6% (2006)

Imports: machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals

Import Partners: China 10.9%, Netherlands 8.2%, US 8.1%, UK 5.4%, Brazil 5.2%, France 4.5%, Germany 4.3% (2006)

Economic Aid Recipient: $6.437 billion (2005)

Currency: naira (NGN)

Communications

Telephones- main line in use: 1.688 million (2006)

Telephones- mobile/cellular: 40.395 million (2007)

Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 83, FM 36, shortwave 11 (2001)

Television Broadcast Stations: 3 (the government controls 2 of the broadcasting stations and 15 repeater stations) (2001)

Internet Hosts: 1,968 (2007)

Internet Users: 8 million (2006)

Transportation

Airports: 70 (2007)

Pipelines: condensate 124 km; gas 3,071 km; liquid petroleum gas 156 km; oil 4,347 km; refined products 3,949 km (2007)

Railways:

total: 3,505 km
narrow gauge: 3,505 km 1.067-m gauge (2006)

Roadways:

total: 193,200 km
paved: 28,980 km
unpaved: 164,220 km (2004)

Ports and Terminals: Bonny Inshore Terminal, Calabar, Lagos