A Nigerian mother and her young child sleeping peacefully together under a blue insecticide-treated mosquito net, in soft early morning natural light.

Who SNMS reached

The 80,269 SNMS respondents

A demographic profile of the people who answered the SNMS, viewable at national, state, or LGA scope.

80,269

Analytical respondents

States and the FCT reached

758

LGAs reached (97.9%)

42.8%

Female respondents

6,791

Pregnant women surveyed

70.7%

Aged 15 to 49

SNMS reached 80,269 respondents across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, fielded July 2025 to April 2026. Their demographic profile shapes how the survey's results should be interpreted, especially where it differs from the official census or DHS reference populations.[14]

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Wealth distribution: unweighted vs reweighted to national

Quintiles use the MIS 2021 national wealth index (a principal-components score of household assets), not an SNMS-specific scale. Each respondent is placed in the national quintile their household assets fall into. Because SNMS reaches a wealthier, mobile-using population, most land in the top national quintile; the reweighted panel recalibrates the sample to the MIS 2021 national shares.

Unweighted

Who SNMS reached[14]

0.1%

Q1 (Poorest)

n=53

0.8%

n=611

5.5%

n=4,387

21.8%

n=17,491

71.9%

Q5 (Wealthiest)

n=57,727

Reweighted

Calibrated to MIS 2021 national[15]

20.0%

Q1 (Poorest)

20.0%

Q5 (Wealthiest)

Five vignettes

The most prominent slices of the SNMS sample.[14]

A 25 to 34 year old Nigerian with post-secondary education in a moderate-transmission state setting, photographed in a routine daytime moment.

THE PLURALITY

Working-age, post-secondary, in a moderate-transmission state

n = 12,475 (15.5% of all respondents)

The largest respondent segment comprises adults aged 25-34 with post-secondary or postgraduate qualifications. They live in the 27 states classified as Moderate-A or Moderate-B transmission areas. This group represents a highly reachable population that is digitally connected, economically active, and able to participate in continuous, low-cost surveys. Their strong representation demonstrates the feasibility of maintaining a continuous national malaria intelligence system.

An educated Southwestern Nigerian respondent in a daily urban moment.

THE SOUTHWESTERN RESPONDENT

Educated, urban, low-transmission setting

n = 11,116 (13.8% of all respondents)

Respondents with post-secondary or postgraduate education living across the six Southwestern states: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti. Two of these six states, Lagos and Ogun, sit in the Low-A or Low-B transmission bands; the other four (Oyo, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti) are Moderate-B. The Southwestern respondent represents the educated, urban South, where transmission runs below the national average and where surveillance, case investigation, and elimination-readiness data are increasingly central.

A Nigerian mother with her young child in a tender routine moment at home.

THE CAREGIVER OF A YOUNG CHILD

Caregiver of at least one child under five

n = 52,950 (66.0% of all respondents)

Respondents living with at least one child under five in the household. This is the universe for every paediatric malaria indicator on this site: U5 net use, fever care-seeking, diagnostic testing, ACT receipt, SMC, and R21 vaccine coverage. About two-thirds of SNMS respondents live with a young child, which is why SNMS can support paediatric measurement at sub-national resolution, where MIS by design samples only every five years.

A pregnant Nigerian woman in a calm routine moment at home, mid-pregnancy.

THE PREGNANT RESPONDENT

Currently expecting

n = 6,791 (8.5% of all respondents, 19.8% of women)

Women who self-reported a current pregnancy at the time of survey. This is the universe for the antenatal-care, IPTp, and pregnant-women-ITN indicators. One in five women in our sample is currently pregnant, a measurable, continuously updating cohort that no five-year survey can match. These respondents make malaria-in-pregnancy surveillance a quarterly operational capability.

A rural Northern Nigerian household compound with livestock visible, photographed in a routine daytime moment.

THE NORTHERN LIVESTOCK-HOLDING HOUSEHOLD

Northern household, non-piped water, owns livestock

n = 19,223 (23.9% of all respondents)

Respondents in the 19 northern states and the FCT whose households keep livestock, mainly cattle, goats, and sheep, and do not have access to piped water. They represent approximately one-quarter of the SNMS sample. This demographic closely reflects the primary target population of mass-distribution campaigns and helps explain why the geographic patterns observed in SNMS align closely with those reported by the Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) across most indicators.

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How SNMS Compares to MIS 2021 and NDHS 2023-24 NMEP State Transmission Bands How SNMS Becomes Even Stronger