Nigeria is often described as a young country, and the household data from the 2025 Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) supports this. The survey covered 104,661 people in its household listing. Table 2.9 breaks them down by age, sex and place of residence, which gives a snapshot of the country’s age structure.

A population built on children

Children under 5 make up 18.7% of the surveyed population, and those under 15 make up 45.2%. Adults aged 15 to 64 are 51.1%, and people aged 65 and above are only 3.7%. In other words, nearly one in two people in the sample is a child, and fewer than one in twenty is elderly.

Counting everyone under 18 raises the share to 51.3%. In this sample, children are slightly more than half the population.

The urban-rural gap

The urban and rural columns show a clear divide. Rural areas hold 52.4% of the sampled population (54,880 people) and urban areas hold 47.6% (49,781). Rural households are noticeably younger.

• Under 5: 20.9% of rural residents, against 16.4% in urban areas.
• Under 15: 48.0% rural, against 42.1% urban.
• Under 18: 54.0% rural, against 48.4% urban.
• Working-age (15-64): 54.0% urban, against 48.4% rural.

Urban households have a larger working-age share, which fits the common pattern of young adults moving to cities for work and education. Using the table’s shares, I calculated a rough dependency ratio, which is children and older people for every 100 working-age adults. It comes to about 85 in urban areas and about 107 in rural areas. This is my own calculation from the published percentages, not a figure in the table.

Adolescents

Adolescents aged 10 to 19 are 22.4% of the population, or more than one in five people. The share is slightly higher in urban areas (23.1%) than in rural ones (21.7%). This group will soon enter the labour force and start families, so services such as schooling, health and jobs for young people matter a great deal.

Differences between men and women

Women are 50.9% of the sample (53,309 females against 51,352 males), and the age pattern differs by sex.

• Young adult women outnumber men. In rural areas, women aged 25 to 29 are 8.5% of the female population, against 5.9% of the male population. The gap is also clear at ages 20 to 24 (7.7% against 5.8%). Out-migration of young men, or the way household members are recorded, may partly explain it, but the table alone can’t say.
• Men are better represented in middle age. Among urban residents aged 45 to 49, men are 5.2% of the male population and women 3.5%. At 40 to 44 the figures are 6.2% and 5.1%.
• Older age shows a difference too. Men aged 65 and above are 4.3% of males and women 3.1% of females. The gap is widest in rural areas (4.4% and 2.8%).

Reading the numbers carefully

These are percentage distributions from a household survey, not a census count, and they should be read with that in mind. The under-5 group (18.7%) is much larger than the 5 to 9 group (13.6%), even though both cover five years. This is consistent with high recent birth rates, but age reporting in surveys can also be imperfect, so it is best to treat single-year comparisons cautiously. Columns also don’t always add up to exactly 100.0 because of rounding.

Why it matters

The table points to a country with a large and growing base of young people, especially in rural areas. That means heavy demand for child health care, immunisation, schools and, later, jobs. It also suggests a possible opportunity: if today’s children and adolescents are healthy, educated and employed as adults, a large working-age population could drive growth. Rural areas, where the young share is highest and the working-age share lowest, will need the most attention.

What the 2025 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey Reveals About Who Lives in Nigeria’s Households

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Household population by age, sex, and residence

Age	Urban			Rural			Total
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
<5	17.1	15.7	16.4	21.6	20.2	20.9	19.5	18.0	18.7
5-9	12.9	12.2	12.5	15.2	14.0	14.6	14.1	13.1	13.6
10-14	12.9	13.5	13.2	12.4	12.7	12.5	12.6	13.0	12.8
15-19	9.8	9.9	9.9	9.2	9.3	9.2	9.5	9.6	9.5
20-24	6.4	7.5	7.0	5.8	7.7	6.8	6.1	7.6	6.9
25-29	5.7	7.8	6.8	5.9	8.5	7.2	5.8	8.2	7.0
30-34	5.0	7.0	6.0	5.4	6.2	5.8	5.2	6.6	5.9
35-39	6.0	6.7	6.3	4.7	5.1	4.9	5.3	5.8	5.6
40-44	6.2	5.1	5.6	4.5	3.8	4.1	5.3	4.4	4.8
45-49	5.2	3.5	4.4	3.5	2.8	3.2	4.3	3.2	3.7
50-54	3.8	3.9	3.9	3.2	3.3	3.3	3.5	3.6	3.5
55-59	2.5	2.3	2.4	2.0	2.2	2.1	2.3	2.2	2.3
60-64	2.1	1.5	1.8	2.2	1.4	1.8	2.1	1.5	1.8
65-69	1.5	1.3	1.4	1.5	1.1	1.3	1.5	1.2	1.3
70-74	1.3	1.0	1.1	1.5	0.7	1.1	1.4	0.8	1.1
75-79	0.7	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.6
80 +	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.7
Don’t know	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.1
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Dependency age groups
0-14	42.9	41.4	42.1	49.2	46.8	48.0	46.2	44.2	45.2
15-64	52.8	55.1	54.0	46.4	50.4	48.4	49.4	52.6	51.1
65+	4.2	3.5	3.8	4.4	2.8	3.6	4.3	3.1	3.7
Don’t know	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Child and adult populations
0-17	49.3	47.5	48.4	55.3	52.6	54.0	52.5	50.2	51.3
18+	50.6	52.5	51.6	44.6	47.3	46.0	47.4	49.8	48.7
Don’t know	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Adolescents 10-19	22.7	23.3	23.1	21.5	21.9	21.7	22.1	22.6	22.4
Number of persons	24,164	25,617	49,781	27,188	27,692	54,880	51,352	53,309	104,661