Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

Nigeria and United States, side by side

In 2026, half of the people in Nigeria are older than 19. In the United States, half are older than 40.

UN estimates for mid-2023: Nigeria 227,882,945 people · United States 343,477,335

Nigeria 242 million people Half are older than 19 3 in 100 are 65 or older

United States 349 million people Half are older than 40 19 in 100 are 65 or older

How to read this: each pyramid stacks a place’s people by age — babies at the bottom, the oldest at the top, men on the left and women on the right. A wide bottom means many children; a wide top means many older people.

Compare shapes Compare sizes

Each bar is a share of its own place’s people, so a small country and a large one can be read side by side.

Year 2026 · UN projection

estimatesprojections

men women projected

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries

NGA × USA · 2026 · age groups

If each place were 100 people

Shrink each population to 100 people and count them. Dots are children under 15, filled squares are people aged 15 to 64, and open squares are people 65 and over. The picture follows the year slider above.

Nigeria

Children, under 15: 40
Aged 15 to 64: 57
Aged 65 and over: 3

United States

Children, under 15: 17
Aged 15 to 64: 64
Aged 65 and over: 19

NGA × USA · families and lifetimes

Children, and how long lives last

If the birth rates of this year held for a whole lifetime, a woman in Nigeria would have about 4.2 children and a woman in the United States about 1.6. Around 2.1 children per woman keeps a population the same size over time, leaving migration aside. Babies born this year can expect about 55 years of life in Nigeria and about 80 in the United States.

Children per woman, 2026

Each figure is one child: how many children a woman would have in her lifetime at that year’s rates.

Nigeria 4.2

United States 1.6

The dashed line at 2.1 is about what it takes for each generation to replace the one before it, leaving migration aside.

How long a newborn can expect to live, 2026

Each block is ten years of life, if the death rates of that year stayed the same all life long.

Nigeria 55 years

United States 80 years

Hatched marks are UN projections (medium variant), not measurements.

NGA × USA · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

The United States is the larger of the two, with about 40% more people than Nigeria: 349 million to 242 million.

Set each against its own 1950 self and Nigeria's population is 6.5 times what it was in 1950, the United States' population is 2.3 times what it was in 1950.

Nigeria's population is still growing in 2100; the United States' population is still growing in 2100. The UN expects Nigeria to have more people than the United States from 2057. In 2100: 477 million in Nigeria, 421 million in the United States (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	Nigeria: people	United States: people	Nigeria: half older than	United States: half older than	Nigeria: children per woman	United States: children per woman	Nigeria: life expectancy	United States: life expectancy
1950	37.2830 million	154.203 million	19.1	30.0	6.42	3.09	35.5	68.1
1960	45.0538 million	180.275 million	19.3	29.3	6.36	3.73	37.2	69.8
1970	55.8938 million	207.796 million	18.9	27.7	6.47	2.52	40.0	70.7
1980	73.7646 million	229.859 million	17.7	30.1	6.85	1.86	46.0	73.7
1990	97.1209 million	253.373 million	17.2	32.9	6.46	2.07	45.7	75.4
2000	126.382 million	281.484 million	17.8	35.3	6.12	2.03	47.1	76.8
2010	166.643 million	311.063 million	17.7	36.9	5.95	1.92	51.3	78.7
2023	227.883 million	343.477 million	18.8	39.0	4.48	1.62	54.5	79.3
2030*	262.381 million	355.650 million	20.3	40.6	3.82	1.63	55.5	80.4
2040*	312.710 million	370.209 million	22.7	41.8	3.10	1.64	57.1	81.8
2050*	359.186 million	380.847 million	24.9	42.9	2.66	1.64	58.5	83.2
2060*	399.785 million	388.918 million	27.3	44.1	2.39	1.64	59.9	84.6
2070*	433.486 million	398.218 million	29.8	44.7	2.20	1.64	61.2	85.8
2080*	457.922 million	407.080 million	32.0	45.1	2.07	1.65	62.5	87.0
2090*	471.886 million	414.458 million	33.8	45.8	1.98	1.65	63.6	88.1
2100*	476.748 million	421.279 million	35.3	46.3	1.91	1.65	64.7	89.2

* UN projection, medium variant. People at mid-year; ages and life expectancy in years.

NGA − USA · 1950–2100 · every age

Which ages each place has more of

Each column is a year and each row an age, from babies at the bottom to 100 at the top. The shade of a cell shows which place has more of its people at that age — the key beside the picture tells you which shade is Nigeria and which is the United States, and the in-between shade means the same. Because it compares shares, a small place and a large one can be compared fairly.

236 countries · 1950–2100

Where they sit among all countries

Every country in the world, every year from 1950 to 2100. The grey cloud shows where most countries are; Nigeria is drawn in solid blue squares and the United States in open orange squares, so you can see whether each is ahead of the crowd, behind it or in the middle.

More comparisons

Keep exploring

Each place on its own: Nigeria · United States. Or pick any two places with the boxes at the top of this page.

Other comparisons

Apparatus

Sources and method

Both sides of this comparison come from the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects 2024 — the same release, the same tables, counted to 2023 and projected beyond it on the medium variant. That shared origin is what a comparison rests on.

How the median age and the “100 people” pictures are worked out, and why the pictures of every country leave the regions out: how the figures here are put together.

This is one of 250 pairs with a page. The boxes at the top will take any other two places you want to see side by side.

Sources: UN WPP 2024 · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries