This study assessed the level of forest dependency and the socio-economic factors affecting it among rural households in Ikot Ondo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Data was obtained through a detailed structured household survey using 50 randomly sampled households. Descriptive statistics, Z-test and econometric models were employed to analyze the data collected. The findings showed that majority of the respondents were males (62%), aged 50 years and above (48%), had First School Leaving Certificates (40%), were traders (56%), had a household size of 6 to 10 (58%), resided in the study area between 20 to 29 years (30%) and a yearly income of <₦100,000.00. Firewood and bamboo stem were the dominant and significant products collected in the study area. Forest income contributed only 7.89% to the total income and was significantly different from non-forest income at P < 0.05. The result of regression analysis depicts that age (p<0.10), distance to market (p<0.05), farm income (p<0.01) and non-farm incomes (p<0.01) were the major determinants of forest dependence among rural households. It is therefore recommended that all tiers of government should intensify their efforts in providing more investment and development in the rural areas by improving, localizing and building on the existing livelihood strategies of the people as this further help in reducing dependence in the forest thereby conserving it for posterity.

Key words: Nigeria, forest dependence, forest resources, rural household income, livelihood.