Nigeria has the sixth largest population in the world, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in Abuja on Monday.
Dr Agatha Lawson, the UNFPA Country Representative made the declaration during an interactive session with the media in Abuja on Monday.
Nigeria’s new position is coming as the world commemorates the World Seven Billionth Population Day.
Nigeria, which ranked seventh in the World Population Report of July 1, has taken over from Pakistan, which occupied the sixth position in the July report.
According to the Country Representative, Nigeria still occupies the first position as the most populous in Africa.
She said: “Nigeria is the sixth most populated in the world after China, India, USA, Indonesia and Brazil.
“In Africa, Nigeria is still the biggest and the first with the population of 167 million as at this morning.
“Four boys and four girls were given birth to in the Federal Capital Territory while about 840 babies were recorded in Nigeria between 11.45 p.m. to noon on Sunday night.’’
Earlier, Mr. Jamiu Zubena, the Director-General of the National Population Commission, urged Nigeria to desist from linking population with revenue allocation.
“It is high time we moved away from obsession with revenue allocation to population management issues and sectoral investments in order to achieve economic growth and development,’’ he said.
He also called on Nigeria to emulate some East Asian countries that had made conscious effort to lower their fertility rates.
“Nigeria can also take a cue from some countries in East Asia. We popularly refer to them as the Asian Tigers.
“Most of these countries have made conscious efforts to lower their fertility rates and thereby experienced phenomenal economic growth.
“In Thailand for example, between 1960 and 1990, its fertility rate fell from 6.3 births per woman to 2.3 births. During the same period, Thailand’s GDP per capita astronomically rose.
“This is because the remarkable drop in fertility helped sustainability to release resources, which were properly invested thereby contributing to the fast economic development.
“This is a lesson which Nigeria can learn from if any meaningful upliftment is to be accorded to this country in the years ahead.’’
Zubena said that a lower fertility rate would translate to fewer young people looking for jobs and a better quality of life for all.
“On the employment scenario, a lower fertility will also translate into fewer young people looking for jobs.
“It may still pose some challenges to generate enough jobs, but it will be more manageable for us.
“As Nigeria records 167 million people today, the question we should ask ourselves is whether the population will be an asset or a liability to us.
“We can choose to make it the former if we toe the line of other countries and this is much more experienced in the Asian countries.
“By our own informed decisions, we can have better jobs and food security; better health and education, more prosperous people with higher per capital GDP, and a general better quality of life.
“But what all these demand from us is looking beyond sheer numbers.’’
The theme of the Day was: “Everyone Counting on Each Other – Seven Billion People in the World Counting on Each Other.’’
Speaking in an interview, the Country Representative said the theme was to draw attention to the fact that everyone could take part in reducing poverty.
“The theme of the event is to draw our attention that this population growth means counting on ourselves and that everyone of us should take part in reducing poverty; everyone should have access to education and good health.’’
She urged Nigerian leaders to take advantage of the country’s large population to achieve all-round development by addressing maternal and child mortality.
“I think this is something we need to celebrate. Humanity is facing challenges; countries are facing challenges. It’s calling on governments to think what they want to do with the population they have.’’