65% of Nigerian households rely on traditional cooking methods, says NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 65 percent of Nigerian households use traditional cooking methods. 

In its ‘Nigeria General Household Survey-Panel (Wave 5) 2023/2024’ report, the NBS said the three-stone cookstove is the most widespread cooking method used in the country.

“The most common cookstove type used in the country is the three-stone/open fire, with 65.0 percent of households relying on this traditional cooking method,” the report reads.

The NBS said a huge proportion of households (22.6 percent) make use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas.

“Traditional cooking methods (three-stone/open fire) remain dominant in rural areas (78.8 percent) and certain geographical zones like North Central (72.1 percent), North East (82.4 percent), North West (85.7 percent), and South East (61.3 percent),” the bureau said.

“However, there is a noticeable use of modern cooking technologies (LPG/natural gas) in urban areas (49.0 percent) and the South West zone (51.0 percent).”

According to the NBS report, other types of cookstoves, including biomass, kerosene, and electric play a minimal role in the overall cooking landscape.

“When using traditional cookstoves, slightly more than half (51.2 percent) of households in the country use them outdoors, making this the most common location,” the report reads.

The NBS said 37.9 percent of households use such stoves indoors but outside the sleeping area.

According to the agency, only 1.8 percent of households use their stoves in a sleeping area.

“The North East (59.0 percent) and North West (50.5 percent) zones are more inclined towards indoor cooking, while households in North Central (60.7 percent) and all the southern zones predominantly cook outdoors/ in a separate building,” NBS said.

“Cooking outdoors or in a separate building is the prevailing practice in urban (46.2 percent) and rural (52.6 percent) areas.”

The bureau said wood is the most-used cooking fuel in Nigeria, reported by 70.2 percent of households, followed by LPG-cooking gas at 23.2 percent.

“Zonal disparities are significant. The North East and North West zones have the highest shares of households using wood as cooking fuel, at 93.4 percent and 84.8 percent respectively,” the report reads.

“In contrast, the South South and South West zones show a higher use of LPG, with 35.3 percent and 51.7 percent, respectively.”

According to the report, urban households have a stronger reliance on LPG (50.5 percent), while rural households mostly use wood (83.8 percent).