Currently Nigeria has the highest birth rate in the world and doing research into the country’s social and ecomomic spheres, there really isn’t that much of a difference between it and other countries that have lower birth rates
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There’s a lot of factors both socially and economically that affect birthrates
Poorer countries tend to have a higher birthrate. This is in part because contraception such as condoms and birth control is not widely available or affordable.
It is also because the quality of education is much lower, so you have limited or zero sex education.
This is also in part because the childhood death rate is much higher. Most people are shocked to learn that the average mortality rate for children without medical care is as high as 20-30%. This seems like an insane figure to us today, but the childhood death rate was that high in North America as recently as the 1940’s. What changed this was the wide spread availability of affordable medical care after the 1950s. When you know 1/3 of your children won’t make it to 4 years old on average, you tend to have more kids.
Poor countries also rely on families for labor and care. Social programs are very limited so you need that many kids and young adults to help tend the farm or family business, care for the grand parents, etc. This was the norm in North America as well at the turn of the 20th century. Things like nursing homes and automation are all relatively new things we take for granted.
Another important one is religion. Christian religions predominantly are very pro-birth and teach that contraception is wrong. “Go forth and be fruitful” is a core tenant of the religion. In poorer and less educated nations religious beliefs tend to take precedence over education and science. About 45% of Nigerians identify as Christian, 53% Islamic.
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