THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Abuja, Nigeria ) ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release August 26, 2000
FACT SHEET
Nigeria
-- Nigeria is nearly twice the size of California. -- Nigeria, with a population estimated at 110 million, is the most populous country in Africa and the 10th largest in the world. -- One in five sub-Saharan Africans is Nigerian. -- There are hundreds of thousands of Nigerians currently in the United States. Nearly 200,000 are American citizens. -- Nigeria is inhabited by over 250 ethnic groups. Muslims make up about 50 percent of religious adherents, Christians about 40 percent, while 10 percent follow traditional beliefs. -- Nigeria is the world's sixth-largest oil exporter, accounting for 7% of oil imports to the United States. -- There is 1 telephone for every 220 people in Nigeria. -- Only 9,000 Nigerians have access to the Internet. -- Sixty percent of Nigerians earn less than $1 per day. -- The Nigerian Stock Exchange is one of the few stock exchanges in the world to be run by a woman. The Chairman is Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke. -- The life expectancy, at birth, is 56 years in Nigeria compared to 76 years in the United States. -- Nigeria's infant mortality rate is 87 deaths per 1,000 live births-the 15th highest rate in the world. -- Nigerian military and uniformed police personnel have participated in 27 peacekeeping missions around the world. -- Nigerian author, Wole Soyinka, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. -- Nigerian athletes have won 14 medals in the Olympics-winning 6 at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
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