Introduction
In 2001 Nigeria's estimated population was 126,635,626, yielding an average density of 137 persons per sq km (355 per sq mi). At the last census, in 1991, the population was pegged at 88.5 million.

With a birth rate of 39.7 per 1,000 and a death rate of 13.9 per 1,000, Nigeria's population is growing at an average of 3 percent annually. The average Nigerian woman gives birth six times in her lifetime, although among more educated women the rate is somewhat lower. Nearly half of Nigerians are younger than 15 years. By 2025 the population is projected to grow to 204 million, nearly double the current size.

The highest population densities are in the Igbo heartland in southeastern Nigeria, despite poor soils and heavy emigration. The intensively farmed zones around and including several major Hausa cities especially Kano, Sokoto, and Zaria in the north are also packed with people. Other areas of high density include Yorubaland in the southwest, the central Jos Plateau, and the Tiv homeland in Benue State in the south central region. Densities are relatively low in the dry northeast and in most parts of the middle belt. Ecological factors, including the prevalence of diseases such as sleeping sickness, carried by the tse-tse fly, and historical factors, especially the legacy of pre-colonial slave raiding, help explain these low densities.

Ethnicity
Nigeria’s three largest ethnic groups, the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo, represent 71 percent of the population. Of the remaining 29 percent of the population, about one-third consists of groups numbering more than 1 million members each. The remaining 300-plus ethnic groups account for the final one-fifth of the population.

The Hausa, concentrated in the far north and in the Republic of Niger, are the largest of Nigeria's ethnic nations. Most Hausa are Muslims engaged in agriculture, commerce, and small-scale industry. While most live in smaller towns and villages, others occupy several larger indigenous cities. Many people of non-Hausa origin, including the city-based Fulani, have become assimilated into the Hausa nation through inter-marriage and acculturation. Other Fulani continue to depend on their livestock and have retained their own language, Fulfulde, and cultural autonomy.

The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria incorporate seven subgroups— the Egba, Ekiti, Ife, Ijebu, Okun (Kabba), Ondo, and Oyo— each identified with a particular paramount chief and city. The Ooni of Ife is the spiritual head of the Yoruba. There is a strong sense of Yoruba identity but also a history of distrust and rivalry dividing the various groups. The majority of Yoruba are farmers or traders who live in large cities of pre-colonial origin.

The Igbo of southeastern Nigeria traditionally live in small, independent villages, each with an elected council rather than a chief. Such democratic institutions notwithstanding, Igbo society is highly stratified along lines of wealth, achievement, and social rank. Overcrowding and degraded soil have forced many Igbo to migrate to nearby cities and other parts of Nigeria.

Other large ethnic groups include the Kanuri, centered in Borno State; the Tiv, from the Benue Valley near Makurdi; the Ibibio and Efik in the Calabar area; the Edo from the Benin region; and the Nupe, centered in the Bida area. Although small by Nigerian standards, each of these lesser groups has more members than almost any of Africa's other ethnicities.

Language
Most Nigerians speak more than one language. English, the country's official language, is widely spoken, especially among educated people. About 400 native Nigerian languages have been identified, and some are threatened with extinction. The most common of the native languages are Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. Other major languages include Fulfulde, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, Efik, Edo, Ijo, and Nupe. The most widely used languages have several distinct regional dialects, and in some regions, such as the Jos Plateau and surrounding middle belt, hundreds of small groups make for wide linguistic variations across short distances. The two main trade languages are pidgin, a distinct language in which English is combined with native languages, and which is used commonly in the south, and Hausa, used mostly in the north.

Religion
Islam, Christianity, and indigenous religions are central to how Nigerians identify themselves. According to the 1963 census, 47 percent of Nigerians were Muslims and 35 percent were Christians. Current estimates vary since many Muslims and Christians adhere to beliefs and practices associated with indigenous religions.

In the late 19th century, Christianity became established in southern Nigeria. In the Yoruba southwest, it was propagated by the Church of England, while in the Igbo southeast the Roman Catholic Church dominated. Today, close to half of the southwestern peoples and far more than half of the southeastern peoples are Christian, usually along lines established by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist missionaries. Christianity is also widespread in the middle belt, but it is virtually absent in the far north except among migrant populations. In recent years, Protestant fundamentalism has grown, particularly in the middle belt. Nigeria also has many independent African churches, such as Cherubim and Seraphim, which incorporate African cultural practices such as drumming, dancing, and polygamy (marriage with more than one wife) into Christianity.

Dominant in the north, Islam continues to spread, especially in the middle belt and in southwestern Nigeria. However, Islamic practices such as the seclusion of women and strict fasting tend to be ardently observed only in northern cities. Islamic fundamentalists have increased in recent years, resulting in clashes with other Muslims, with Christians, and with the state. The largest such clash happened in Kano in December 1980 when followers of an outspoken cleric, Mohammed Marwa Maitatsine, seized part of the city and denounced the moral decay of modern Nigerian society. The army quelled the uprising ten days later, with more than 4,000 casualties.

While specific beliefs vary, Nigerian indigenous religions are usually pantheistic, incorporating a supreme god, deities associated with particular elements of the environment, and spiritual entities associated with local physical landmarks, such as rock formations or rivers. Rituals and ceremonies in honor of deities are undertaken with great care, as they are seen to represent the key to security and prosperity. An example of such ceremonies would be ritual sacrifices, conducted at specific places and times to ensure a bountiful harvest. The Yoruba indigenous religion is of special interest because traditional rituals continue to be an important part of that society's cultural practices.

Nigerian society varies greatly between urban and rural areas, across ethnic and religious borders, and with levels of education. Still, most Nigerians share a strong attachment to family and especially to children, clearly differentiated roles for men and women, a hierarchical social structure, and the dominance of religion in shaping community values.

Nigerian society functions in a highly patriarchal fashion, with men exerting broad control over the lives of women, who are less educated and have limited access to health and social services. Women work far longer hours than men. They perform virtually all housework and child care, as well as (for most women) many hours of income-earning work, especially farming. The exceptions are in some southern states, where women are more active in trade and exert considerable political influence. In northern Muslim communities, especially cities, women are confined to home according to purdah (the seclusion of women from public places). Many women in purdah participate in a hidden trade in craft articles, prepared foodstuffs, and other goods, using children as couriers.

Polygamy is widely practiced among Muslims, among adherents of traditional religions, and among Christians who belong to independent African churches. Among northern Muslims and in many more traditional societies, most girls enter family-arranged marriages near the age of puberty. The daughters of more educated populations, particularly in the south, tend to marry when they are in their late teens or early twenties. Men usually marry at a later age, especially if they come from families that are unable to afford the high cost of weddings and bride-price (payment given to the bride’s family by or on behalf of the future husband).

Social life has traditionally revolved around ceremonies: weddings, infants naming ceremonies, and public performances associated with cultural and religious holidays. Young adult males living in cities enjoy going to cinemas, dance clubs, and bars for recreation. Some Muslim women, for example among the Hausa, have their own social institutions revolving around the bori, a cult of spirit possession. Bori ceremonies provide women with a forum for interaction that is relatively free of male control, and offer explanations and remedies that help women cope with problems such as the death of their children.

Clothing in Nigeria symbolizes religious affiliation, wealth, and social standing. Northern Muslim men wear long, loose-fitting garments such as the kaftan, together with colorful embroidered hats or (among traditional officials) turbans. Most Yoruba men also wear elaborate gowns and hats, somewhat different in style. Many Nigerians in the south wear casual Western-style dress. Women wear wrap-around garments or dresses, typically made from very colorful materials, and beautiful head-ties that may be fashioned into elaborate patterns.

Diets vary regionally and between city and country. Grain-based dishes such as tuwo da miya, a thick sorghum porridge eaten with a spicy, vegetable-based sauce, dominate the northern diet. Dishes made from root crops, such as pounded yam and gari (a granular product made from cassava), are more prevalent in the south. Northerners eat more meat, either in sauces or as kebabs known as tsire. Yogurt and soured milk (nono) produced by Fulani pastoralists form an important part of rural northern diets. Modernization has made cheaper bulk food staples such as cassava, maize (corn), rice, white bread, and pasta increasingly important in both rural and urban areas. Muslims generally do not approve of drinking alcohol, especially northern Muslims, who tend to prefer tea and soft drinks. In the rest of the country, it is common to drink commercially brewed beer or traditional drinks such as beer made from sorghum or millet and palm wine. Kola nuts are used widely as a stimulant, especially in the north.

Nigerians, particularly youth, are avid sports fans and participants, and by far the most loved game is soccer, known as football. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Nigeria's national team won the gold medal. Several Nigerian footballers have achieved prominence playing professionally in Europe, and all major cities are represented in Nigeria's highly competitive national football league. Nigerians have also excelled internationally at track and field, particularly in short-distance races, and in boxing. Other popular sports are field hockey, basketball, table tennis and lawn tennis.

Arts and Literature
Nigerian arts reflect African, Islamic, and European influences. In northern Nigeria, Islam has shaped architecture and calligraphy. As Islam traditionally forbids the representation of people and animals, art forms such as ceremonial carvings are virtually absent in the north. In the south, indigenous peoples produced their own art long before Europeans arrived. Portuguese figures first appeared in Benin bronzes dating to the 16th century. Since the dawn of the colonial era, Western influences have challenged, threatened, and in certain ways enriched Nigerian culture.

Nigeria's modern literature grows out of a tradition of story-telling and historical remembrance that has existed in Nigeria for millennia. Oral literature ranges from the proverbs and dilemma tales of the common people to elaborate stories memorized and performed by professional praise-singers attached to royal courts. In states where Islam prevailed, significant written literatures evolved. The founder of the Sokoto caliphate, Usuman dan Fodio, wrote nearly 100 texts in Arabic in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His prose and poetry examined issues such as good government and social relations from an Islamic moralist perspective. The legacy of this Islamic tradition is a widely read modern literature comprised of religious and secular works, including the Hausa-language poetry and stories of Alhaji Abubakar Imam.

In 1986 Nigerian Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Soyinka is a prolific author of poetry, novels, essays, and plays that blend African themes with Western forms. His uncompromising critiques of tyranny, corruption, and the abuse of human rights have often angered Nigeria’s military rulers. One of his most powerful books, The Man Died (1972), was written while Soyinka was imprisoned during the civil war of 1967 to 1970. Chinua Achebe, whose novels include A Man of the People (1966) and No Longer at Ease (1960), is another Nigerian writer whose work commands a wide international audience. Other important novelists include Cyprian Ekwensi, Nkem Nwankwo, Elechi Amadi, Flora Nwapa, and Clement Ogunwa, who write mostly in English. John Pepper Clark, Gabriel Okara, Christopher Okigbo, and Ken Saro-Wiwa are well-known poets.

Music and Dance
Virtually all Nigerian cultures have their own traditions of music and dance, which are central to the way Nigerians remember their past and celebrate their present. Songs and dances are played on drums, flutes, trumpets, stringed instruments, xylophones, and thumb pianos, and are often linked to specific places and events, such as the harvest. Although traditional song and dance continue in modern Nigeria especially in rural areas and on ceremonial occasions, their central place in Nigerian life is threatened by the spread of radios, tape recorders, video cassette recorders (VCRs), and other mass-culture media, especially among youth. Sometimes, however, modern media allow musicians using traditional instruments and forms to reach a mass audience.

Popular music in Nigeria began in the late 1940s with the arrival of highlife music from Ghana. Highlife blended Western sounds ranging from big bands and guitars with African beats and instruments. Among the leading early bands were those of Rex Jim Lawson and Victor Olaiya. During the 1960s and 1970s, King Sunny Ade and I. K. Dairo, among others, established a new style of music known as juju. A rhythmic dance music style, juju blends Western instruments with elements of traditional African music. In the 1980s and 1990s Fela Anikulapo Kuti commanded a large following, both in Nigeria and internationally, with a form of Afro-Beat inspired by funk, jazz, and highlife and accompanied by provocative lyrics in Yoruba and pidgin. Popular music stars of recent years include Victor Waifo, Charlie (Boy) Oputa, Onyeka Onwenu, Christie Essien Igbokwe, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, Femi Kuti (Fela's son) and Lagbaja.

Theatre and Film
Contemporary theatre in Nigeria grows out of a long tradition of masquerades, festivals, and story-telling. Masquerades, which emphasized costume and dance rather than dialogue, were a key instrument of social control and political commentary, especially in traditional southeastern Nigerian cultures. In the southwest, Alarinjo, a court masquerade and professional popular theater, was common, especially in the 14th century Oyo kingdom. The traditional Ozidi dramas of the southern Ijaw took three days and nights to perform, after several years of rehearsal. The theatrical traditions of the northern Hausa, still practiced today, include the performances of traveling minstrels known as 'yan kama' and public ceremonies of the bori spirit possession cult. Kwagh-hir, an amalgamation of traditional masquerades, puppet theater, acrobatics, dancing, and music, is a modern adaptation of traditional Tiv theater arts.

Modern theatre is especially well developed among the Yoruba. The late Hubert Ogunde, considered the father of modern Yoruba folk opera, created the genre by combining music, dance, and mime. In 1945 he founded a professional theatrical group to perform his own plays, including Tiger's Empire (1946), an attack on colonialism. Other notable Yoruba theatre troupes were founded by Duro Ladipo, whose work explored aspects of Yoruba myth and history, and Moses Olaiya Ademujo, known for comedies that parody social pretensions. Today several professional theatre companies thrive in Lagos, Ibadan, and other major cities. Additionally, many performances reach audiences via television, in English as well as in the leading Nigerian languages.

Film-making is less developed in Nigeria than in other African countries such as Senegal, and motion pictures are generally less vibrant than Nigeria's other arts. This is due to poor funding and distribution, the popularity and availability of television, and state censorship. Nigeria's leading filmmakers include Francis Oladele, Eddie Ugbomah, Sanya Dosunmu, Ola Balogun, Sadiq Balewa, and Bankole Bello. One of the best-known Nigerian films is Oladele’s Kongi’s Harvest (1971), a political drama about an African dictator's abuse of power, based on a Wole Soyinka play by the same name. The Rise and Fall of Dr. Oyemusi (1977), which tells the story of an armed robber in Lagos, and The Mask (1979), which is about a plot to rescue African artifacts from the British Museum, are the best-known films by Ugbomah, Nigeria's most prolific filmmaker. Since the mid-1990s Lagos has become the center of a thriving industry producing low-budget dramas for video, aimed at the home VCR market.