Report confirmed that 23.6 per cent of recorded paternity test outcomes were negative

About one in four paternity tests conducted by Smart DNA Nigeria returned negative results in its 2025/2026 reporting period, its latest annual DNA Testing Report has revealed.

The company, in a statement on Sunday, August 24, 2026 in Lagos, said the report confirmed that 23.6 per cent of recorded paternity test outcomes were negative, meaning the tested man was not the biological father.

According to the report, the negative paternity outcome declined marginally from 24.0 per cent in the preceding year and 26.1 per cent in 2023.

The report, however, cautioned against interpreting the figure as evidence that one in four Nigerian children is not biologically related to the man regarded as the father.

It stressed that its clients were people who had already developed sufficient doubts or reasons to seek DNA testing.

The report also revealed that 87 per cent of DNA tests conducted were ‘Peace of Mind tests’, representing private, self-initiated tests undertaken outside legal, immigration or court proceedings.

It said the proportion increased from 83.7 per cent in the preceding reporting period, indicating that personal concerns and the desire for certainty largely drove DNA testing in Nigeria.

Immigration-related tests accounted for 9.7 per cent, legal tests 1.9 per cent, avuncular tests one per cent, while prenatal testing represented 0.4 per cent of recorded cases.

The report further showed that older men accounted for the majority of male clients seeking DNA tests, with men aged 41 years and above representing 48 per cent of age-classified male records.

Men aged between 31 and 40 accounted for another 35.8 per cent, meaning that men above 30 constituted 83.8 per cent of the male testing population.

Men aged between 31 and 40 accounted for another 35.8 per cent, meaning that men above 30 constituted 83.8 per cent of the male testing population.

Geographically, Lagos accounted for 75.1 per cent of all classified cases, rising from 69 per cent in the preceding period.

Outside Lagos, Ogun recorded the highest testing activity, followed by Delta, Oyo, Rivers, Enugu, Edo, Abuja, Imo and Kwara.