The population of Nigeria which was at 140,431,790 during the last population census in 2006 has been estimated to currently be at 193,392,517. This is according to the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).


According to the forecast released by NBS, Kano is the city with the highest population of 13,076,892 people, followed by Lagos with 9,113,605 people. This report contradicts that given by the Lagos State Government and the United Nations which places the population of Lagos at 22 million people.

Kaduna is estimated to be the third most populated state with 8,252,366 people, followed by Oyo state which has a population estimate of 7,840,864. Katsina has a population of 7,831,319 people, having been displaced by Oyo state to the fifth position.

The NBS population analysis also estimated that 98,630,184 males and 94,762,333 females make up our entire population, with children between the ages of 0 - 4 making up the larger percentage of the nations entire population, followed by those from 5 – 9 years. The population of the people making up the working population (15 – 64 years) is estimated to be at 106,257,431 people.

Despite the crises in the North, the population estimate indicates that there was an increase in the population in the North, with Bauchi being the state with the highest population in the North-East zone at a population of 4,653,066 while Benue leads the population of the North-Central with 5,742,815 inhabitants.

In the South-East zone, Anambra state has the highest population of 5,527,809 inhabitants. Rivers State leads the South-South region with 5,198,716 inhabitants. With a population of 2,277,961 people, Bayelsa is the least populated state in Nigeria.

The NPC will commence preparation for the 2018 national census in 2017.