Week 2 Project – Public Health

Introduction

The demographic populations in Nigeria have been ever since 1960 increasing, while that of the United States of America decreasing. The current demographic population of Nigeria is approximated to about 195,204,137 which has a birthrate of about 40.51 per 1000 persons and this is rate is thrice that of the United States of America, which has been estimated to have a birth rate of 14 per 1000 persons with a current population of about 326,475,149 people. This gives the USA a 4.28% of the entire world’s population while that of Nigeria is about 2.57% of the entire world population (NationMaster, 2018). When it comes to the demographic density, Nigeria has a higher estimation of about 215 per Km square while the USA is approximated to have a population density of 36 per Km square. These changes in population growth are caused by some factors which are the main driving forces. These include fertility rates, mortality rates or the life expectancy of the country the age profile of the state as well as the migration rates. For Nigeria, the fertility rates are higher than the USA that is why it has a birth rate of 40.51 per 1000 persons and USA has a birth rate of 14 per 1000 people. Regarding life expectancy, USA has a higher life expectancy of 76.3 while Nigeria has a life expectancy of 51.42 (NationMaster, 2018). The United States of America’s population has a high number of individuals with old ages as compared to Nigeria whose population is composed mainly of youths.

The population structure and compositions of these countries differ greatly. For instance, the age structure for the United States of America is as follows. From 0-14 years of age counts about 18.73% of both females and males, 15-24 represents about 13.2% of both male and female, 25-54 years represents an estimation of 39.4% of both female and 55 and above years represents 28.5% of both male and female in the population. On the other hand, the population structure and compositions of Nigeria includes 0-14 years represents about 30.2%, 14-35 years is about 36.6%, 36-51 years is about 18.7 % and 21.45% represents 51 years and above. This also includes estimations for both male and females (NationMaster, 2018). However, among the estimations, the female composition has the highest number of the composition. USA’s population structure suggests its population is mainly composed of old aged persons because it has a lower birth rate. The main reason for the old aged population is because its population growth rate, as well as the birth rate, has been decreasing since 1960. On the other side, the population structure of Nigeria is mainly composed of the middle-aged individuals because it has a higher growth rate than the USA and its population growth rate has been increasing since the 1960s (USAID, 2017).

Nigeria is 7th in the world rankings of the list of countries and dependencies using population where the USA is ranked 3rd in the same list. This is because statistics show that the dependence ratio of Nigeria has been at a level of 88.2 which was an improvement from the previous year which was at 87.9 while that of the United States of America is about 51.6 which was also a decrement from the previous year which had been estimated at 66.7. Nigeria‘s dependency ratio shows that it has a higher number of dependents who are relying on the working population while that of the United States indicates that few individuals depend on the working population (NationMaster, 2018).

The mortality rate of Nigeria as compared to that of the USA is a bit higher because it has been approximated to be about 100 per 1000 persons, while that of the USA is at 844 deaths per 100,000 people. The infantry mortality rate or children are at risk in Nigeria while the aged individuals above 65 years in the USA are affected. The infantry mortality rates recently showed an estimation of 87 because the maternal services in Nigeria were really poor making many expecting mothers and their children to be affected. Also, the healthcare for children provided poor services which increased the death rate of the children. On the other hand, the death rate among the aged is caused by heart diseases with a high number of deaths at about 633,842, cancer second leading with 595,930,  Alzheimer’s disease estimated at 110,562 and diabetes resented at 79,535 (NationMaster, 2018).

In both countries the young groups majorly children are benefiting from the healthcare interventions. Since the death rate among children had increased in Nigeria, they started focusing on children and now they have better healthcare attention. Therefore this age group is getting health care to live longer. Additionally in the USA’s old age groups are getting better health interventions to help be strong and live longer (USAID, 2017).

The rate of mortality rate is high among the young infants and those who have advanced in age in the Nigerian population. Therefore, it suggests that the means of coping with life are not favorable hence forcing most of the people to die at a younger age or infancy stage.  This indicates that the healthcare services and money or people to spend on healthcare services is strained. On the other hand, the USA has a high life expectancy of at infancy stage and old age. Thus suggesting that nation has improved health care services and people are using them and the living standards are high (NationMaster, 2018).

To properly analyze the studies, it is important to consider the following questions. They include the following:

• What are the actions taken to help better the health care status in the less fortuned countries?
• What are some of the resources that can be used to assist the less fortuned nations?
• What can be done to help decrease the mortality rates in Nigeria in particular?
• What can Nigeria do as a country to change and gain better understanding and grasp of their nation?
• What can the women in the USA do to decrease the infantry mortality rates?