Niger Case Study Flashcards
to learn data and statistics around Niger
What is the population of Niger?
28.3 million
Niger’s geographic characteristics
- Landlocked country in north Africa
- Largest Country in West Africa – 22nd largest in the world
- Saharan desert is a major feature
Niger’s environment
- 80% of Niger is desert.
- Over 90% of the population lives in 1/3rd of the country where climate is wetter/more fertile to grow food.
- Highly variable climate – droughts often occur causing food insecurity and famine
Niger’s population characteristics
- 19% live in urban areas
- TFR is 6.82 births per women
- Death rate is 7.782
- Growth rate is 3.84%
- Dependency ratio is 105.13%
- 13-14 people per km2
Niger’s DTM stage
They sit in stage 2, with high birth rates, death rate is falling rapidly and and they have a rapid natural increase
Factors contributing to population changes: Cultural norms
Over 90% are Muslims, which creates an encouragement for big families, and only 17% use a form of contraception
Factors contributing to population changes: Early age of marriage
- 28% of girls married before 15 years old
- 76% of girls married before 18 years old
- Legal age for marriage is 15
SHEEPT Factors: Social
High illiteracy, On average, 39.7% of Nigeriens ages 15-24 can read, hard to inforce contraception
SHEEPT Factors: Economical
Families rely on children to work on the land to generate economic prosperity for the family, thus through the cultural normalisation of large families, the population is rapidly growing.
SHEEPT Factors: Environmental
Poor sanitation, high levels of child mortality from unhygienic facilities resulting in families having to compensate with additional births, resulting in a growing population. 40.6 deaths per 1000 live births.
Population movement in Niger: International
Niger is not a popular place to migrate to. Net migration only contributes 0.2 per 1000 inhabitants.
Population movement in Niger: Internal
This is common and is usually people moving away from floods/droughts/disaster in order to access food supply.
Issues and challenges: Food insecurity
As of 2020, approximately 2 million Nigeriens were food insecure. And over 10% of children are acutely malnourished.
Niger’s world regional context
Countries with a similar growth rate to Niger include Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Mali and Uganda. But Niger have a higher TFR and more environmental challenges
Responses and strategies: Girls not Brides
Girls not Brides are pressuring lawmakers to change laws around child marriage. Ending child marriage would improve the rate of education, delay childbirth, and increase women in the workforce. World Bank calculates that by ending child marriage, Niger could save $25 billion over 15 years.
Responses and strategies: FP2020
FP2020 is a global initiative where countries like Niger commit to stronger family planning measures.
FP2020’s six commitments
- Increase health spending to fund free maternal and child health care and family planning
- Train 2500 workers to teach reproductive health
- Create 2120 new contraception distribution sites
- Equip 2700 health centres to support reproductive health education
- Make legal marriage age 18 years
- Improve female literacy
Effectiveness of FP2020
Contraceptive use – Failure somewhat
- FP2020 targets for Nigeria: 12% in 2012, 25% in 2015, 50% in 2020
- Reality: 17% contraception use in 2020
Geospatial technologies: Use of drones to manage flood vulnerability
- Drones are being used to determine areas along the river that are likely to force people to be displaced in case of flooding
- This information is used to improve drainage infrastructure
Effectiveness of geospatial technologies
They are very expensive, unlikely that Niger can afford the initiatives. Instead, International organisations have provided these resources. In Sep 2020 there were severe floods and despite the knowledge obtained from the drones, the infrastructure was not developed in all of the necessary areas due to lack of funds.
