La population du Nigeria est de plus de ________ personnes."

Question

A test question under this topic was "La population du Nigeria est de plus de ________ personnes." However I am not sure why the grammar is "est de plus de..." instead of "est plus de..." The translation, "is more than..." doesn't indicate the need of an extra "de".

Accepted Answer

Hi Olaedo,
I understand that to write "être de" is to express "to be of"
So "La population du Nigeria est de ...." is expressing "The population of Nigeria is of more than ......"
Remember that être expresses "a state of being" so the text is expressing the state of Nigeria's population is in "a state of being of" more than .....
This is how I understand it   -- hope this helps.
Jim