Number of people treated for river blindness in Nigeria

Nigeria: Number of people treated for river blindness was 24.29 million People in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
24.29 million People
Change on year
down 30.5%
World rank
2nd
of 33 countries
All-time high
44.42 million People
in 2014
All-time low
12.04 million People
in 2021
Years of data
20
2005–2024

Number of people treated for river blindness in Nigeria, 2005–2024

10.0M20.0M30.0M40.0M2005201420242005: 20.8M People2006: 21.7M People2007: 23.5M People2008: 23.6M People2009: 26.4M People2010: 29.1M People2011: 30.4M People2012: 29.0M People2013: 28.7M People2014: 44.4M People2015: 35.3M People2016: 35.4M People2017: 40.0M People2018: 44.1M People2019: 40.7M People2020: 38.6M People2021: 12.0M People2022: 25.0M People2023: 34.9M People2024: 24.3M People

Source: World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in People.

Analysis

Nigeria recorded 24.29 million People for number of people treated for river blindness in 2024.

That represents a change of down 30.5% on the previous year and down 45.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of people treated for river blindness in Nigeria peaked at 44.42 million People in 2014 and was at its lowest, 12.04 million People, in 2021.

Nigeria ranks 2nd of 33 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 20 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 23.18 million People 20.75 million People 26.38 million People 5
2010s 35.71 million People 28.66 million People 44.42 million People 10
2020s 26.97 million People 12.04 million People 38.57 million People 5

Countries ranked near Nigeria

  1. 1 Democratic Republic of Congo 44.32 million People compare
  2. 3 Ethiopia 20.33 million People compare
  3. 4 Cote d'Ivoire 17.96 million People compare
  4. 5 Cameroon 8.89 million People compare

See the full ranking of 33 places →

More reference data data for Nigeria

All data for Nigeria →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of people treated for river blindness in Nigeria?
Number of people treated for river blindness in Nigeria was 24.29 million People in 2024, according to World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest number of people treated for river blindness recorded in Nigeria?
The highest recorded value was 44.42 million People in 2014.
What is the lowest number of people treated for river blindness recorded in Nigeria?
The lowest recorded value was 12.04 million People in 2021.
How does Nigeria rank for number of people treated for river blindness?
Nigeria ranks 2nd out of 33 countries with data for 2024.
Is number of people treated for river blindness rising or falling in Nigeria?
Over the last ten years it is down 45.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Nigeria data come from?
The figures come from World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Number of people treated for river blindness. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 20 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Number of people treated for river blindness
Unit
People
Source
World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
33 places, 538 data points, 2005–2024
Last refreshed

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