Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group, predicts that Nigeria’s population will increase by approximately 130 million by 2050.
Banga made the estimate during the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in 2025.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates Nigeria’s current population to be 237.5 million.
According to Banga, the predicted increase will solidify Nigeria’s place as one of the world’s most populous nations.
“Nigeria will swell by about 130 million, firmly establishing itself as one of the most populous nations in the world,” he stated.
Banga also discussed demographic trends in Africa, noting that Zambia is predicted to add 700,000 people every year, while Mozambique’s population is set to quadruple by 2050.
“We are living through one of the great demographic shifts in human history,” he said.
The World Bank’s chief emphasized that by 2050, more than 85 percent of the world’s population will live in developing countries, and that within the next 10 to 15 years, approximately 1.2 billion young people will enter the global labor force, competing for only about 400 million available jobs.
“That leaves a very large gap,” Banga warned.
He also stated that over the next decade, four young people will join the global workforce every second.
“With their energy and ideas, they will shape the century ahead,” he said. “So in the time it takes to deliver these remarks, tens of thousands will cross that threshold—full of ambition, impatient for opportunity.”
Banga defined Africa as the hub of the world’s fastest population expansion, projecting that by 2050, one out of every four people on the planet will reside there.
He emphasized that with the appropriate investments, which prioritize opportunity over necessity, Africa’s demographic explosion may become a tremendous engine for global economic growth. However, he warned that failing to act could have serious implications.
“Without deliberate action, optimism could give way to despair—driving instability, unrest, and mass migration with consequences for every region and economy,” Banga warned.
In his closing remarks, the World Bank President emphasized the importance of job creation as a key component of long-term development.
“This is why jobs must be at the center of any development, economic or national security strategy,” he said.
