calebohi/nigeria-population-growth-analysis

GIS analysis of population growth rate across Nigerian states (2000-2020) using WorldPop data and QGIS # Nigeria Population Growth Rate Analysis (2000-2020) ## 📌 Overview This project analyzes population growth patterns across Nigerian states between 2000 and 2020 using geospatial techniques in QGIS. The goal is to understand how population growth varies spatially and identify regions experiencing unusually high or low growth. ## 🎯 Objectives - Analyze population growth trends across Nigerian states - Compare growth rates between 2000–2010 and 2010–2020 - Identify spatial patterns and outliers - Provide insights into possible demographic and urbanization trends ## 🗂️ Data Sources - **Population Data**: WorldPop (1 km resolution, 2000, 2010, 2020) hub.worldpop.org - **Administrative Boundaries**: HDX (OCHA) - Nigeria Admin Level 1 (States) data.humdata.org All datasets used in this project are included in the `/data` folder to ensure full reproducibility of the analysis. ## ⚙️ Methodology ### 1. Data Importation Population raster datasets for the years 2000, 2010, and 2020 were obtained from the WorldPop database and imported into QGIS. Additionally, Nigeria’s administrative boundary shapefile (Admin Level 1 - states) was loaded into the project. ### 2. Data Preparation The raster layers and administrative boundary shapefile were verified to ensure they shared the same coordinate reference system (CRS). This step is essential to guarantee accurate spatial analysis and alignment between datasets. ### 3. Zonal Statistics Zonal statistics was performed to extract population values from the raster datasets and assign them to the corresponding state polygons in the vector layer. Since the population data is stored in raster format (gridded cells), and the administrative boundaries are in vector format (polygons), this step allows the aggregation of raster values within each state boundary. In this analysis, each state polygon represents a zone, and the raster cells within each zone are summarized to produce …