By Thompson ABISOLA
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said harnessing demographic dividend will lead to decline in mortality rate in the country.
The NBS said this in its Demographic Statistics Bulletin 2017, posted on its website. According to the NBS, harnessing demographic dividend will enhance desire for smaller family size and increase investment in family planning. This, it stated, would enable a decline in fertility among women of child bearing age.
According to the report, if Nigeria is able to make substantial investments in reproductive health and family planning, then fertility levels may begin to decline more significantly.
The report, however, revealed that no fewer than 7,742, 488 births were registered in 2016.
Birth Registration is the process by which a child’s birth is recorded in the civil register by the government authority.
It provides the first legal recognition of the child and is generally required for the child to obtain a birth certificate.
The bureau stated that out of the births registered, 33.09 per cent were registered before age one and 31.19 per cent between one and four.
It stated that 3.5 per cent of the births were registered at five years or later age.
The report indicated that Kogi State recorded the highest level of under one-year registration (54.89 per cent) of total birth registration in the state, while Anambra State recorded the least (19.83 per cent).
It, however, stated that late registration may be attributed to poor attitude of parents to early birth registration.
The report said that increasing awareness about its benefits may help to improve birth registration shortly after birth, rather than waiting till after five years of age.
Another demographic issue considered in the bulletin is maternal survival through utilisation of maternal health care.
The report said a strong indicator of maternal health care is antenatal care visit.
Antenatal care is known as the care given to a pregnant woman from the first trimester through the third trimester till delivery of the baby.
The standard is that a pregnant woman should at least visit a hospital or Primary Health Care (PHC) four times or more during the duration of the pregnancy.
It said Lagos State had the highest (94.2 per cent) number of pregnant women who made four or more visits to health facility for antenatal care. It reported that Sokoto State showed the least (24.9 per cent) number of pregnant women who made it to antennal care in the period.
The report further analysed the use of contraceptives among women of child bearing ages. It showed that most women, who are currently married or in a union, (86.6 per cent) were not using any contraceptive method to prevent unwanted pregnancy.
It further showed that Ebonyi State had the highest proportion (97.0 per cent) of women who are married without using any contraceptive methods to space their children.
According to the report, Oyo State has the least with 65.7 per cent of women without using contraceptive methods to space their children.
