Lobatan: As a Nigerian this is the Maximum Year You are expected to live for before Passing Over [Check Now]

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the average Nigerian should be able to live for 55 years.

Meaning that if you are currently above 55 years of age as a Nigerian living in Nigeria, you have done well for yourself.

In its 2018 life expectancy data for Nigeria, the WHO states that a male given birth to in Nigeria in 2018 is expected to live for approximately 54.7 years. Conversely, a Nigerian female is expected to live approximately 55.7 years.

The data further shows that Nigeria has a World life expectancy ranking of 178 out of 192 countries listed for the study.

However, the average life expectancy at birth in Nigeria is 55.2 years, an improvement from the previous figure of 47.

Are things actually getting better?
A 2017 report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had stated that females in Nigeria can live for approximately 51 years, while males can live for just 47 years.

Causes of premature deaths in Nigeria were listed as influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases, stroke, HIV/AIDS, coronary heart disease, liver disease, prostate cancer, diabetes mellitus, maternal conditions, malaria, breast cancer, meningitis, cervical cancer, lung disease and low birth weight.

Other causes include accidents, road traffic and birth trauma, among others.

The future doesn’t look that bleak for Nigerians, however. According to another research carried out by the Washington based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the life expectancy in Nigeria can increase to 74.8 years by 2040.

A nation of some 180 million people, Nigeria has been plagued by infrastructure, corruption, leadership and economic woes since independence. Nigeria is currently the poverty capital of the world.

In recent times, a bloody insurgency in the country’s Northeast has led to the displacement and deaths of thousands, further impacting life expectancy negatively in Africa’s most populous nation.