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Running Header: Descriptive Data Interpretation: United States and Nigeria

Descriptive Data Interpretation:

United States and Nigeria

Jonathan Bland
Issues in Public Health
Professor Aqueelah Barrie

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There are several factors that contribute to the differences between the United
States and Nigeria. One is alcohol abuse, drinking in the United States has a drinking
age of 21. In Nigeria it is 15 years old. The problem with this is alcoholism is rampant in
Nigeria, in some areas of the country as much as 36% of the population. As time goes
on these people will destroy their livers and have major health issues. With the drinking
age and the laws here in the United States you still have this problem but not so much
that it is a burden on the society. The highest percentage of drinkers per capita is
19.98% well below the 36% of Nigeria. The population of Nigeria in the past 15 years
has increased 56% in some areas while urban areas saw increase of 49%. The
population growth for the United States has increased 79% and in urban areas it has
increased 81%. Currently the life expectancy in Nigeria is for m/f in 2003 was 41/42
respectively. In the United States those numbers m/f was 67/71. Health Care in the
United States compared to Nigeria is similar to comparing apples and oranges. They do
not have the medical expertise to deal with patients who suffer from malaria, typhoid
fever, AIDs, and the list goes on, if these people lived in the United States with these
health issues they could be treated properly and live longer.
The composition of each county consists of one nation being predominately white
and the other being predominately black. In Nigeria communicable diseases have really
high death rates, 80%. In America those same communicable diseases have a 9%
death rate an in the regional areas they have a 25% death rate. Although if one were to
examine the non-communicable death rates for the United States they were 73% for the

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country and 55% for regional areas. In Nigeria they are at 13% for both country and
regional averages.
Currently the dependency ratio for the United States is 49%. In Nigeria, currently the
dependency ratio is around 90%. For America, this means that for every 10 people
working there are supporting 4.9 people. For Nigeria, for every 10 people working they
are supporting 9 people. In both countries, newborns to 5 year old children are
benefiting from immunizations.
Life expectancy in the United States at birth tells me that I have strong chance of
living well into my 70s and possibly my 80s and in Nigeria my life expectancy is in my
early 40s. Also the chances of survival for children under 5 are really high for
Americans, for Nigerian children there are 191 children dying for every 1000 live births.
The high incidence in death for children born in Nigeria tells me that they are not getting
the nutrition they need, safe living environments, or other key factors in their life needed
that most American children get. Child in America only has an 8 in 1000 chance of dying
under the age of 5.
Conditions for a developing country such as Nigeria where ones death rate is so
low, 40 years of age tells me that conditions where they live are not sanitary. They may
not have access to immunizations, such as tetanus diphtheria for example. Living in
rural areas they may not have access to clean drinkable water, water that is not clean
may carry diseases and pathogens that could get the person either really sick or
sometimes even death. In America, every child has access to vaccinations. We in

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America have access to clean drinking water in our homes, stores, and public facilities.
Most of Americans realize that sanitary living means a healthier family therefore they
dont sleep on dirt floors as they do in some places in Nigeria.
Taking the same age group for each country, the probability of dying between the
ages of 15 and 60 years old, m/f we find that in America 137/80 die per 1000
population. Although in Nigeria, we look at the same group we find that those numbers
jump to 447/399 m/f per 1000 population. According to the documentation both sexes
had a higher chance to die from HIV/AIDs than that from respiratory infections. In
America non-communicable diseases will kill most people. The exact opposite kills in
Nigeria, more communicable diseases kill people.
The five major causes of death for each country. Starting with America motor vehicle
accidents, Cancer, non-communicable diseases, and heart disease are the top five
killers. For Nigeria, you would have AIDS/HIV, malnutrition, murder, drinking
contaminated water (giving the person dysentery), and other communicable diseases.

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Bibliography
World Health Organization. (2011). Nigeria. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from World Health Organization:
http://www.who.int/countries/nga/nga/en/

World Health Organization. (2011). United States. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from World Health
Organization: http://www.who.int/countries/usa/en/index.html