Nigeria currently accounts for 20 percent of all the births in Africa, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported.

UNICEF, in a report: ‘Generation 2030 Africa 2.0: Prioritising investments in children to reap the demographic dividend’, also said one in every 13 births globally would take place in Nigeria by 2050.

UNICEF said special attention is required for Nigeria, given the projected increase in births and child population.

“Nigeria currently accounts for nearly 20 percent of all of Africa’s births and 5 percent of the global total.

“Between 2016 and 2030, 120 million births will take place in Nigeria alone – more than all the births in Europe – accounting for 6 percent of the global total for that period.

“Based on current projections, by 2050, one of every 13 births globally will occur in Nigeria,” the report said.

The report found that half of the world’s children would be African by the end of the 21st century.

“In 1950, Africa had just above 10 percent of the world’s children. By 2100, if current trends persist, around 50 percent of all the world’s children will be African.

“By 2030, the end year for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Development, Africa’s under-18 population is projected to increase by around 170 million, reaching a total of 750 million.

“By mid-century, around 42 percent of the world’s births, 41 percent of all under-fives, 38 percent of all under-18s, and 36 percent of all adolescents will be African.”

The report added that almost one billion children would live in Africa by mid-century.

NAN