# Cameroon and Nigeria compared Cameroon and Nigeria side by side: 39 shared sourced indicators across 9 domains, and the 3 events their chronicles record of each other. Canonical: https://terralore.co/compare/cmr-vs-nga Updated: 2026-08-10 (latest of the two dossiers' refreshes and the two chronicles' verification dates) Two sourced records set beside each other — nothing on this page was written for the pair. Every figure is the same observation, with the same source, as on the two national dossiers; every event is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle. Figures are compared, never graded. A "—" is an absence in the source data, never a zero; each value shows its own observation year — vintages differ by indicator and nation. ## Formation - Cameroon: 1 January 1960 — French Cameroun becomes independent as the UN trusteeship ends - Nigeria: 1 October 1960 — The Federation of Nigeria becomes independent of Britain ## Economy | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | GDP | $53 B | 2024 | $252 B | 2024 | | GDP per capita | $1,830 | 2024 | $1,084 | 2024 | | GDP growth | 3.5% | 2024 | 4.1% | 2024 | | Inflation | 4.5% | 2024 | 33.2% | 2024 | | Trade openness | 34.4% | 2024 | — | — | ## Society | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population | 29 m | 2024 | 233 m | 2024 | | Life expectancy | 64.0 yrs | 2024 | 54.6 yrs | 2024 | | Urban population | 55.4% | 2024 | 63.0% | 2024 | | Fertility rate | 4.3 | 2024 | 4.4 | 2024 | ## Governance | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Voice & accountability | 35.1 | 2024 | 44.1 | 2024 | | Political stability | 39.3 | 2024 | 31.7 | 2024 | | Government effectiveness | 35.8 | 2024 | 31.8 | 2024 | | Regulatory quality | 43.4 | 2024 | 44.9 | 2024 | | Rule of law | 35.4 | 2024 | 39.6 | 2024 | | Control of corruption | 23.1 | 2024 | 25.3 | 2024 | ## Health | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Health spending | 4.6% | 2023 | 4.2% | 2023 | | Physicians | 0.14 | 2022 | 0.38 | 2023 | | Under-5 mortality | 64.8 | 2024 | 115.6 | 2024 | | Measles immunisation | 71.0% | 2024 | 57.0% | 2024 | | Safe drinking water | — | — | 29.9% | 2024 | ## Education | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Adult literacy | 72.6% | 2018 | 70.4% | 2024 | | Education spending | 2.8% | 2023 | 0.3% | 2023 | | Primary enrolment | 114.4% | 2024 | 89.6% | 2023 | | Secondary enrolment | 44.8% | 2023 | 46.9% | 2023 | | Tertiary enrolment | 16.7% | 2024 | 9.7% | 2011 | ## Technology | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Internet users | 46.3% | 2024 | 41.2% | 2024 | | Mobile subscriptions | 108 | 2024 | 71 | 2024 | | High-tech exports | 2.1% | 2023 | 2.7% | 2024 | | R&D spending | — | — | 0.3% | 2019 | | Researchers (per million) | — | — | 22 | 2019 | ## Geography | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Land area | 472,710 km² | 2023 | 910,770 km² | 2023 | | Forest area | 42.7% | 2023 | 23.2% | 2023 | | Agricultural land | 20.9% | 2023 | 76.2% | 2023 | | CO₂ per capita (t) | 0.4 | 2024 | 0.6 | 2024 | | Renewable energy | 79.2% | 2021 | 80.3% | 2021 | ## Resources | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Resource rents | 5.5% | 2021 | 8.6% | 2021 | | Oil rents | 2.4% | 2021 | 6.2% | 2021 | | Mineral rents | 0.0% | 2021 | 0.0% | 2021 | | Forest rents | 2.6% | 2021 | 1.1% | 2021 | | Electricity access | 72.0% | 2023 | 61.2% | 2023 | | Rare earths | — | — | 1,500 t | 2025 | ## Military | Metric | Cameroon | Observed | Nigeria | Observed | |---|---|---|---|---| | Military burden | 1.0% | 2024 | 0.6% | 2024 | | Defense spending | $535 M | 2024 | $1.1 B | 2024 | | Armed forces | 34,000 | 2020 | 223,000 | 2020 | Each metric is also ranked across all nations: https://terralore.co/rankings (markdown twins at /rankings/.md). Full dossiers: https://terralore.co/country/CMR.md and https://terralore.co/country/NGA.md. ## Entangled histories (3 events) Events in which either nation's sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the record exactly as its own chronicle carries it, with that chronicle's sources. - c. 1000 BCE: **The Bantu expansion begins** — The Grassfields of the Cameroon-Nigeria borderlands are widely held to lie near the homeland of the Bantu languages, whose speakers spread from this region across central and southern Africa. (from the Cameroon chronicle; sources: History of Cameroon; Cameroon (country overview and history)) - 1919–1922: **Partition into French and British mandates** — The League of Nations divided the former German colony between France, which took the larger French Cameroun, and Britain, which administered the Northern and Southern Cameroons alongside Nigeria. (from the Cameroon chronicle; sources: Cameroon (country overview and history); A Guide to the History of Recognition: Cameroon; History of Cameroon) - 11 February 1961: **The British Cameroons plebiscite** — In a UN-supervised vote the Northern Cameroons chose to join Nigeria while the Southern Cameroons chose to reunite with the Republic of Cameroon. (from the Cameroon chronicle; sources: 1961 British Cameroons referendum; Cameroon (country overview and history)) ## Sources - World Development Indicators — World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://data.worldbank.org - Worldwide Governance Indicators (via World Bank API) — Worldwide Governance Indicators / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators - Global Health Observatory (WHO, via World Bank WDI) — WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.who.int/data/gho - Child mortality & immunisation estimates (UN IGME and WHO/UNICEF, via World Bank WDI) — UNICEF and WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://childmortality.org - R&D statistics (UNESCO UIS, via World Bank WDI) — UNESCO Institute for Statistics / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://uis.unesco.org - ICT indicators (ITU, via World Bank WDI) — ITU / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics - Military Expenditure Database (via World Development Indicators) — SIPRI / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://www.sipri.org/databases/milex - Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain (U.S. Government work) · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center Chronicle references are cited inline above and resolve in full at https://terralore.co/country/CMR/chronicle.md and https://terralore.co/country/NGA/chronicle.md. Citation template: Terralore, "Cameroon and Nigeria compared", terralore.co/compare/cmr-vs-nga, retrieved .