–– Paul Schlehlein

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Every hour, over 300 people in Nigeria die. That’s five people every minute. This is more deaths per hour than any country in Africa and fourth highest in the world. China is first, at 1,300 deaths per hour, followed by India (over 1,000) and the U.S. (340). 

The hundreds of Nigerians that pass into eternity every hour remind us of the brevity of life, as do life expectancy rates around the world, especially in Africa. Though numbers are on the rise compared to just a few decades ago, when life expectancy in Africa was 36 years old in 1950 (compared to 64 years old today), modern life expectancy is minuscule compared to the earth’s earliest days when Adam lived for 930 years and Methuselah died at 969. Enoch went to heaven as a young pup at age 365, but only because the Lord took him away before tasting death.