The impact of urbanization and industrialization on health conditions: the case of Nigeria.

Data from Nigeria suggest direct and indirect patterns of influence of urbanization and industrialization on health conditions. Nigerias remarkable urban growth--an average annual rate of 4.7-4.9% since the 1960s--has been accompanied by a deterioration in the quality of the urban environment. 85% of urban households live in 1 room and only 14% have a flush toilet. Houses with either a shared or no kitchen dispose their effluent waste into open drains that have no gradient or outfall. 55% of urban residents deposit their refuse or garbage in unauthorized places. Environmental conditions in the cities are aggravated by industrialization which accounted for 39% of Nigerias gross national product in 1982. Pollution from industrial effluent and smoke as well as from traffic emission is a regular feature of Nigerian cities. Regression analysis indicates that overcrowding and pollution account for 17% and 12% respectively of the variation in infant mortality and 12% and 16% respectively of the variation in life expectancy. 7 variables--room density number of hospital beds/1000 population urbanization index tons of solid waste generated per capita consumption of electricity number of petrol stations/ 10000 population and industrialization index--explain 40% of the variation in the distribution of infant mortality and 43% of the variation in life expectancy. While overcrowding is more important than pollution for infant deaths pollution is more critical than overcrowding to differential life expectancy. Nigerias population is projected to reach 169 million by the year 2000 with urban areas absorbing the majority of this growth. The incidence of overcrowding and environmental pollution will thus continue to pose an ever-increasing threat to the health of Nigerians.