Kano remains the most populous state in Nigeria as at 2023 with a projected estimate of 15,671,491 people, according to a new report.
This is contained in the Demographic Bulletin 2023 edition released on Tuesday in Abuja by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The second most populous state in the country is Lagos with a projected population of 13,710,862 people, the report said.
Katsina State with a population estimate of
10,661,373 came third, according to the report.
The report also revealed that Nigeria’s projected population from the National Population Commission stood at 221,250,127 in 2023, comprising 112,434,239 males and 108,815,888 females.
The report listed Nasarawa and Bayelsa as the least populous states, with 2,948,849 and 2,583,352 respectively.
On reproductive health, the report showed that maternal conditions accounted for the largest share of expenditure in 2022, representing 50.22 percent of capital spending and 52.46 percent of recurrent spending.
According to the report, findings from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2021 indicated that the proportion of women with a live birth in the two years preceding the survey who received antenatal care during pregnancy from a skilled provider increased from 50 per cent in 2011 to 67 per cent in 2018.
“However, this proportion decreased slightly to 63 per cent in 2021.
The report also indicated that Anambra had the lowest proportion of women with unmet needs for birth spacing at 3.8 per cent.
This means that only 3.8 per cent of women in Anambra want to space their births, but are not able to access family planning methods.”
The bulletin also reported 968 cases of human trafficking in 2023, covering both foreign and domestic incidents.
It added that foreign travels linked to prostitution accounted for the highest number of cases at 173.
According to the bulletin, this was followed by procurement of persons for sexual exploitation with 120 cases, and buying and selling of persons for exploitation with 102 cases.
