Bayelsa, Borno and Ekiti States have the least number of health facilities in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Health Facility Registry (HFR) data show that Bayelsa and Borno have 311 and 537 facilities, respectively, while Ekiti has 570.
Yobe and Rivers follow with 586 hospitals each.
The HFR, keeping the records of all hospitals and clinics in the country, shows that states with fewer health institutions have more of their population depending on a facility for treatment. The situation could deny many residents access to services.
For instance, a clinic serves over 13 thousand people in Rivers State, while about eight thousand people depend on a facility for treatment in Borno State.
In contrast, a hospital serves a maximum of two thousand people in Nasarawa State because the state has 1337 health facilities for its population.
However, depending on some factors including the quality of workers, infrastructures and welfare, the number of hospitals a state has does not determine the quality of services its people get.
Health facilities captured by the HFR comprise primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals, both public and private.
States with the highest number of hospitals in the country are Lagos with 2333, Katsina: 1943, Benue: 1837, Niger: 1565, Oyo: 1490, Kaduna: 1419, Plateau: 1470, Kano: 1476, Nasarawa: 1337, Cross River: 1280, Kogi: 1,235, and Bauchi: 1212.
Other states with more than a thousand hospitals are Imo: 1197, Ogun: 1197, Abia: 1196, Anambra: 1166, Edo: 1042, Enugu: 1037, and Osun: 1070.
Twelve other states and the FCT have less than a thousand hospitals. They are Gombe: 671, Ebonyi: 761, Jigawa: 769, Zamfara: 777, Akwa-Ibom: 819, Delta: 821, Ondo: 823, Sokoto: 837, Adamawa: 906, Taraba: 944, Kebbi: 948, and Kwara: 994. The FCT has 752 health institutions.
States and number of private hospitals/clinics – from highest to lowest
Lagos State has 1875 private hospitals, Oyo: 622, Benue: 564, Imo: 514, Anambra: 509, Ogun: 500, Enugu: 479, Abia: 433, FCT: 433, Edo: 425, Plateau: 375, Nasarawa: 340, Kwara: 333, and Kaduna 321.
Others are Delta: 271, Ebonyi: 211, Akwa-Ibom: 231, Kogi: 232, Kano: 210, Niger: 197, Osun: 196, Ekiti: 176, Ondo: 162, Rivers: 129, Taraba: 141 and Cross River: 123.
The list include Bauchi: 104, Katsina: 78, Adamawa: 89, Gombe: 70, Borno: 67, Bayelsa: 50, Sokoto: 35, Kebbi: 33, Zamfara: 31, Jigawa: 17, and Yobe: 17.
States and number of public hospitals/clinics – from highest to lowest
Kano: 1266, Katsina: 1865, Niger: 1368, Bauchi: 1108, Benue: 1273, Cross River: 1157, Kaduna: 1098, Plateau: 1095, Kogi: 1003,
Nasarawa: 997, Kebbi: 915, Osun: 874, Oyo: 868, Adamawa: 817, Taraba: 803, Sokoto: 802, Abia: 763, Zamfara: 746, Jigawa: 752, 746, Ogun: 697, Imo: 683, Ondo: 661, and Kwara: 661.
Others are Anambra: 657, Edo: 617, Gombe: 601, Akwa-Ibom: 588, Delta: 550, Ebonyi: 550, Enugu: 558, Yobe: 569, Borno: 470, Rivers: 457, Lagos: 458, FCT: 319, Ekiti: 374, and Bayelsa: 261.
States with the highest number of tertiary hospitals
Kaduna: 20, Edo: 9, Enugu: 8, Abia: 7, FCT: 7, Bauchi: 6, Kano: 6, Osun: 6, Oyo: 6, Rivers: 6, Nasarawa: 5, and Plateau: 5.
States with just a tertiary hospital are Adamawa, Gombe, Jigawa, Taraba and Yobe. The Federal Government owns the hospitals.
Number of hospitals/clinics according to geo-political zones
South-South: 4859
South-East: 5357
South-West: 7483
North-Central (plus the FCT): 9210
North-East: 8169
North-West: 4856
Source: ICIR reports