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For decades, family planning conversations in Nigeria have largely been framed around sexual reproductive health and rights, as well as maternal health outcomes. While this framing is important and necessary, it often overlooks another critical dimension, the long-term economic benefits and the significant costs of neglecting it.
Nigeria’s demographic landscape is one that raises much concern, with one of the highest total fertility rates (TFR) globally, an estimated at 4.8 births per woman, more than double the global average of 2.1 births per woman.
Regional disparities in Nigeria make this challenge more complex, with some regions recording up to 7.1 births per woman. The 2025 State of the World Population Report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) raised a crucial question: how much of these births reflect the fertility goals of families?
The gap between fertility goals and reality stems from several factors, including limited access to family planning services, often due to a lack of political will.
Beyond population control
Family planning is about creating conditions that enable women and families to achieve their ideal family size without undue influence from socio-economic conditions, cultural barriers, or geographical location. At its core, it enables every woman to freely exercise her reproductive agency.
This is important because when families can control the timing, spacing and number of births, they unlock pathways to education and career opportunities, leading to economic empowerment that benefits both their communities and society.
“For every dollar invested in family planning, the benefits to families and societies are estimated to be at least US$8.78 altogether, generating US$660 billion in economic benefits by 2050, translates to over 700% Return on Investment,” UNFPA stated in the report
While the significant economic gains from investing in family planning are well established, the recent 97% cut in Nigeria’s 2025 national family planning budget compared to 2024 allocation, and the defunding of UNFPA programmes under U.S president, Donald Trump, suggests that these economic benefits are either not properly understood or deliberately ignored.
Nigeria’s modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) remains low at 15%, with states such as Yobe and Sokoto reporting an mCPR as low as 2%. The contraceptive discontinuation rate among women stands at 41%, while the unmet need for contraception among married women aged 15-49 has increased to 21%, according to the 2023-2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) analysis.
The UNFPA report revealed that 24% of women in Nigeria have experienced unintended pregnancies at some point in their lives. This translates to millions of women lacking reproductive autonomy and families facing the social and economic consequences of unintended pregnancies.
The economic ripple effect
Nigeria’s population is growing geometrically, while economic growth progresses arithmetically, a dynamic famously described by Malthus. The impact of unintended pregnancies amplifies this strain in several ways:
- The public health system bears the financial burden through direct medical costs, maternal mortality care, and neonatal care for unplanned births, and other medical expenses linked to unplanned births. This stretches already strained healthcare systems.
- Every girl or woman whose education or career is disrupted by an unintended pregnancy represents lost potential, weakening the workforce and slowing economic growth.
Source: UNFPA, World Bank & Avenir Health Spectrum model.
The investment case for family planning
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMoHSW) in 2024 developed an Investment Case and Financial Susceptibility Plan for family planning in Nigeria, with three scenarios-baseline, moderate and aggressive, based on improving (mCPR) and ending the unmet need.
With the moderate scenario, targeted at scaling up interventions to achieve 27% mCPR and 50% reduction in unmet need by 2030, every US$1 invested in family planning is projected to yield US$69.3 in returns. Investment of 1% of federal and state government budgets would yield US$1.1 billion in returns while an investment of 1% of the Basic Primary Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in family planning services would save US$9.3 million.
With the aggressive scenario, targeted at significantly scaling up to achieve a 36% mCPR and a 75% reduction in unmet need by 2030, every US$1 invested is projected to yield US$103.7 in returns. Allocating just 1% of federal and state government budgets could generate US$2.96 billion in returns in 2024, while investing 3% of the BHCPF could save US$34.2 million.
Beyond economic returns
Increasing access to family planning would save the lives of a significant number of mothers and children. According to the investment case, achieving an mCPR of 27% by 2030 could avert 7.6 million unintended pregnancies, 4.5 million unsafe abortions, 92,827 maternal deaths, and 285,115 neonatal deaths.
Nigeria currently has the highest burden of maternal mortality globally, accounting for more than a quarter of all estimated maternal deaths globally and an estimated 40,000 pregnancy-related deaths annually, accounting for about 14% of the global total.
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The path forward
Nigeria cannot achieve its FP 2030 goals including the UNFPA’s transformative results of ending unmet need for contraceptives without filling critical resource gaps. This is not a time for budgetary allocation cuts, rather, it calls for strategic investments:
- Move from donor dependence to self-reliance by establishing dedicated budget lines at the federal, state and local levels with minimum budgetary allocations mandated by law. The Challenge Initiative (TCI) is supporting 22 of 36 states to fund and sustain high-impact family planning interventions, showing that domestic financing increases access and improves service quality. Federal leadership must scale these gains nationally
- Make family planning an economic development priority by integrating family planning into the country’s broader development agenda and strengthening public-private partnerships and coordination mechanisms to secure sustained investments for family planning services.
Family planning should not be seen as another “health intervention” but an economic development priority that if done right would yield maximum returns for Nigeria.
We must leverage the investment case and get back on track towards achieving the goals set for improving family planning services, including the FP2030 commitment. Nigeria cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity to get on the path to long-term economic transformation.
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