PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Henry Herrera
Phone: +1-301-801-0608
Email: info@menandboys.net

Nigeria’s Men Face Widespread Disadvantages—Yet Their Struggles Remain Ignored

May 23, 2025 – While global gender efforts continue to spotlight women’s empowerment, men and boys in Nigeria are quietly struggling across education, health, violence, and labor conditions.

Education:
Men in Nigeria are less literate than women—just 52.7% of men aged 15+ can read and write, compared to 62% of women (1). Elementary school enrollment favors girls in some regions, with 73% female vs. 64.4% male in the North-West (2). At Ignatius Ajuru University, nearly two-thirds of students in 2018 were women (3).

Health:
Men in Nigeria live shorter lives—59.93 years vs. 63.75 for women, among the lowest globally (4). Adult mortality is also higher for men: 364.6 deaths per 1,000 compared to 349.87 for women (5).

Homicide:
Men face triple the homicide risk—14.604 per 100,000 vs. 4.967 for women, according to World Bank data (6)(7).

Suicide:
Suicide is a men’s crisis: 8.4 deaths per 100,000 vs. just 1.5 for women—nearly six times higher (8)(9).

Intimate Partner Violence:
During COVID-19 lockdowns, 44.8% of men reported intimate partner violence, compared to 37.6% of women. Sexual violence (28.1%) and deprivation (80%) were common, with many men remaining silent due to stigma and normalization of abuse (10).

Workplace:
Men have more than double work-related deaths than women: 108.3 per 100,000 men, and 48.4 women (11).

Conclusion:
Nigeria must confront these gender gaps and ensure men and boys are no longer ignored in national dialogue.

The International Council for Men and Boys is a non-governmental organization that is working to celebrate the contributions of men to society and to end the 12 sex disparities that affect men and boys around the world. Achieving #GenderEqualityForMen also will benefit women. https://www.menandboys.net/

Links:

1.https://data.unwomen.org/country/nigeria

2.https://www.statista.com/statistics/1129980/enrollment-rate-elementary-school-in-nigeria-by-zone-and-gender/

3.https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268661/state-universities-with-the-most-women-in-nigeria/?utm

4.https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122851/life-expectancy-in-nigeria-by-gender/#:~:text=Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in%20Nigeria%202023%2C,Africa%20as%20well%20as%20in%20the%20world.

5.https://www.statista.com/statistics/974534/adult-mortality-rate-in-nigeria-by-gender/#:~:text=Mortality%20rate%20in%20Nigeria%202022%2C%20by%20gender&text=In%202022%2C%20the%20mortality%20rate,1%2C000%20male%20adults%20in%20Nigeria

6.https://www.ceicdata.com/en/nigeria/health-statistics/ng-intentional-homicides-male-per-100000-male

7.https://www.ceicdata.com/en/nigeria/health-statistics/ng-intentional-homicides-female-per-100000-female

8.https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.SUIC.MA.P5?locations=NG

9.https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.SUIC.FE.P5?locations=NG

10. https://drive.google.com/file/d/12LFn98nfxC502PXDjjXBS3QngDZAQi50/view?usp=sharing

11. https://guardian.ng/news/accidents-diseases-kill-3m-persons-yearly-at-workplace/?utm