NBS: Women Now Head More Nigerian Households

A new data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that the Southeast zone of the country has the highest number of households headed by women.

The wave four of Nigerian General Household (Panel) Survey (NGHS) 2019 report released on Wednesday indicates that 32.45 % of households in the southeast were headed by women.

The report ranked the North East as having the lowest in the country at 5.7%.

The report further disclosed that households with female as head have increased in the last three quarters of the year at 2.7% with the South West having the highest share of the increase at 7.8%.

The percentage of Nigerian families that depend on women in the North Central is 14.8%, North West 7.1%, South South 23.9% and South West 27.7 respectively according to the report.

With the release, the dependency rate of families on women over four years in Nigeria has increased to 18.6% which is 4% higher compared with a 2015 World Bank Report that showed 14.6% of Nigeria homes are headed by women.

The NGHS report placed average household size in rural and urban areas at 5.9 persons and 4.8 persons stating the ratio of people who need support in rural areas is at 1.1% against 0.9% for urban areas which is relatively lower.

School attendance rate for children shows female have the highest attendance rate at 78.7% while males at 78.4% adding that females in the South South have the highest number of attendees at 98.45.

The average amount spent yearly on a primary school student is N20,504, while for a secondary school child is N47,879.

The report reviewed the prevalence of illness for four weeks preceding the survey was common among adults of 65 and above with males amounting to 45.85 and 51.8% female reported cases.

In the last 12 calendar year, adults of the same ages had the most reported cases of hospitalization and admission, having males the highest cases at 8.25% and female 4.75%.

NBS further stated in the report that 42.9% of boys are stunted while the case among girls is 39.55.

8.6% of girls according to the report are wasted and 7.05 of boys are wasted. However, 21.3% of boys and 23.6% of girls are underweight.

Considering household characteristics and household assets, 62% of Nigerians live in the houses they built and it is more common in the rural areas at 73% while urban areas is at 35.7%.

It also showed that 44% of households do not have access to electricity and wood is the most common cookstove fuel used by 66.5% of Nigerians at a monthly cost of N1,012.

NGHS report also revealed that 77.7% of Nigerians of 10 years and above have mobile phone, but only 25.7% have access to the internet.