ESTIMATION OF FERTILITY LEVELS IN NIGERIA BY REVERSE SURVIVAL METHOD

Estimation of fertility level in Nigeria is discussed in this study using the indirect estimation technique by Reverse Survival method. This technique was applied to data from censuses and surveys for Nigeria to obtain the Crude Birth Rates used for discussion on the 1963, 1991, 2006 censuses; 1991 Post Enumeration Survey (PES), 1981/82 Nigeria Fertility Survey (NFS) AND 1990, 1999, 2003 AND 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data. The results of the analyses reveal that even although the data reported in the Nigerian censuses and surveys are a little bit poor in quality, fertility level in Nigeria seem to be declining at a very slow rate and it is however considerably high in relation to the levels of other developing and developed countries. Policy and programme implementation aimed at improving access and utilization of sexual reproductive health services, should therefore ensure specific focus by zone, state, age groups, urban/rural places of residence, marital status, level of education and literacy, wealth. A “one size fit all” approach for Family Planning programming should be discouraged.