DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR ESTIMATING NIGERIA'S POPULATION

Abstract

The need to develop alternative methods for population estimation has increasingly become necessary in the absence of
regular censuses. Population data collected through census often becomes out-dated in Nigeria before another census is
conducted. Most population data derived from the indirect sources tend to be less reliable because of various problems facing the sources. The poor quality of the population data is perhaps the cause of the rise in unemployment and poverty rates. This study therefore is an attempt to develop model for population estimation. Both primary and secondary data were used. About 411 household heads were administered with copies of questionnaire in Kabba using systematic sampling technique. The first sample was randomly selected from the first 14 houses in the first street, while subsequent ones taken at interval of fourteenth houses. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed. The mean of people per house, referred to as
crowding index was determined. Correlation was used to determine the degree of association between the population and symptomatic data, while Gini coefficient was employed to determine the best population data employed to develop model. The population of Nigeria was estimated at 179,257,239 with the model. The study thus recommended that the model can be used to estimate population.