Nigeria Population and Ethnic Groups Explained

NIGERIA · POPULATION

Nigeria’s population of about 242 million is Africa’s largest, and Nigerians are the biggest African-born group in the United States. The UN expects the country to pass 350 million people by 2050.

The Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo share it with over 200 smaller peoples, and nearly all Nigerians are Muslim or Christian.

How Many People Live in Nigeria

The UN’s World Population Prospects 2024, the organisation’s official set of population estimates, puts Nigeria at about 242.4 million people in mid-2026. That makes it the sixth-most-populous country on earth, after India, China, the United States, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Growth has been fast. Nigeria had about 37 million people in 1950 and about 126 million in 2000, according to the same UN series.

In 2026 the UN expects about 7.7 million births and 2.8 million deaths in Nigeria. That adds almost 5 million people in a single year.

Nigeria’s population grew by about 2.1% a year in 2024 and 2025, according to World Bank data. At roughly that pace, a population doubles in about 34 years, by the UN’s 2026 estimate.

Looking ahead, the UN’s medium projection reaches about 359 million Nigerians by 2050. By 2100 it shows about 477 million people, more than the 421 million it projects for the United States.

The official head count is much older. Nigeria’s last census, in 2006, recorded 140,431,790 people, according to census data held by the UN Statistics Division.

In July 2026, officials of the National Population Commission, the federal census agency, put the population at 238 million to 242 million. Read more about the country on our Nigeria hub.

A Very Young Population

Nigeria’s population is very young. The UN puts the median age at about 18 in 2026, meaning half of all Nigerians are younger than that.

In the United States, the median age is about 39. About 40% of Nigerians were under 15 in 2025, according to World Bank data.

The best recent picture comes from the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, a large household survey. The National Population Commission and the federal health ministry ran it with technical help from ICF, a US firm.

Interviewers spoke to 39,050 women and 12,204 men between December 2023 and May 2024. Of everyone living in the households they visited, 45% were under 15.

The survey measured a fertility rate of 4.8 children per woman, while the UN’s model puts the 2026 rate at about 4.2. The survey’s wanted fertility rate was 4.3, so women have about half a child more than they want.

Men want larger families than women: their ideal is 6.5 children, against 5.6 for women. Life expectancy at birth was about 55 years in 2024, according to the UN and the World Bank.

This age structure means schools, clinics and the job market must grow quickly just to keep pace.

Cities, Countryside and Moving Within Nigeria

Nigeria is now a mostly urban country. About 64% of Nigerians lived in towns and cities in 2025, according to World Bank data, up from about 59% in 2019.

Lagos, on the Atlantic coast, is the largest city, according to a Library of Congress country profile. World Bank figures, based on UN urban estimates, put Nigeria’s largest metropolitan area at about 17.2 million people in 2025.

Lagos was also the capital until 12 December 1991, when Abuja took over. The same 2008 profile listed Kano and Ibadan as the next most populous cities.

Cities of more than one million people together held about 41.8 million Nigerians in 2025. Rural areas still held about 36% of the population.

People move a lot inside the country. In the 2024 health survey, 39% of women and 40% of men did not live where they were born.

Among recent movers, the most common move was from one city to another. Among men who left the countryside for a city, 55% did so for work, while marriage was the main reason women moved.

The country is divided into six geopolitical zones. The survey found 32% of adults aged 15 to 49 living in the North West and 8% in the South East.

The Main Ethnic Groups of Nigeria

Nigeria has more than 250 ethnic groups, according to the US Library of Congress country profile from 2008. The Hausa and Fulani have traditionally dominated the north, the Yoruba the southwest and the Igbo the east.

The best recent figures come from the 2024 health survey, which asked adults to name their ethnic group. The answers of women aged 15 to 49 break down as follows.

Men Give Almost the Same Answers

Among men, 34.0% said Hausa, 13.2% Yoruba and 10.5% Igbo. The Ijaw, the main people of the Niger Delta on the southern coast, made up 1.2%.

These shares describe adults aged 15 to 49 rather than Nigeria’s whole population. With no census since 2006, the survey is the most recent national source.

• Hausa, 32.7%: the largest group, rooted in the north.
• Yoruba, 12.8%: traditionally dominant in the southwest, the zone that includes Lagos.
• Igbo, 11.2%: traditionally dominant in the east; see our guide to Igbo people, language and culture.
• Fulani, 6.6%: often counted together with the Hausa as the Hausa-Fulani of the north.
• Tiv 2.2%, Kanuri 1.9%, Ibibio 1.6%, Igala 1.3%, Ijaw 1.1% and Ekoi 1.0%.
• Other groups not listed separately: 27.6%.

Languages: English and Hundreds More

English is Nigeria’s official language, according to the Library of Congress profile. Section 55 of the constitution says the National Assembly works in English, and in Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba once adequate arrangements exist.

Ethnologue, a reference catalogue of world languages, lists 527 languages for Nigeria. Of these, 520 are still living and 7 are extinct.

Ethnologue classes 20 living languages as institutional, its top tier, which runs from languages taught in schools to those of government. It classes 43 as dying.

The 2024 health survey used questionnaires in English, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, the three big group languages plus the official one.

Religion: Islam and Christianity Side by Side

Nigeria is split between Islam and Christianity, with small numbers following traditional faiths. In the 2024 health survey, 57.6% of women and 58.2% of men said they were Muslim.

Among women, 8.2% said they were Catholic and 33.7% belonged to other Christian churches, together 41.9%. Traditional religions drew 0.4% of women and 0.9% of men.

Islam dominates the North West and North East, while Christianity dominates the South West, including Lagos, according to the US State Department. In the North Central zone, Christians and Muslims live in roughly equal numbers.

Many Nigerians mix traditional practices with Islam or Christianity, the State Department’s religious freedom report notes. Sharia courts, which apply Islamic law, function in 12 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The constitution forbids the federal government and the states from adopting any religion as a state religion.

How the Groups Live Together

Nigeria’s constitution builds group balance into the state. Section 14(3) requires the federal government to reflect the “federal character of Nigeria”.

It aims to prevent “predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups”.

A Federal Character Commission enforces “proportional sharing” of public posts, from permanent secretaries to senior military officers. The president must also appoint at least one minister from each of the 36 states.

Elections follow the same logic. A winning presidential candidate needs at least a quarter of the votes in two-thirds of the states and Abuja.

Tension is real, especially over land. In its religious freedom report for 2023, the US State Department described numerous fatal clashes in the North Central region.

They pitted predominantly Christian farmers from various ethnic groups against predominantly Muslim herders. The report said many incidents were hard to classify as mainly religious, because religion, ethnicity, land and crime are closely linked.

Islamist armed groups such as Boko Haram “operate freely in certain parts of Nigeria”, a US proclamation said in December 2025. For the wider picture, see our explainer on Nigeria’s geopolitics.

Because public posts are shared among the states, every census carries political weight.

Migration and the Nigerian Diaspora

Nigerians are the largest African-born group in the United States. The Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey counted 532,602 people born in Nigeria, out of 2.97 million African-born residents.

Many more Americans trace their roots to Nigeria. In the same 2024 survey, 858,236 people reported Nigerian ancestry.

Money flows home. Personal remittances to Nigeria reached about US$22.8 billion in 2025, up from US$19.5 billion in 2023, World Bank data show.

Nigeria also hosts about 1.4 million international migrants, according to World Bank figures for 2024. In the 2024 health survey, 1% of adults were born abroad.

The UN estimates that about 35,000 more people left Nigeria than arrived in 2024. That net outflow is tiny next to the country’s natural growth of almost 5 million people a year.

What It Means for US Readers

Nigeria matters to the United States first through people. More than half a million Nigerian-born residents make it the largest African-born community in the country.

Travel has become harder. A US presidential proclamation signed on 16 December 2025 took effect on 1 January 2026.

It suspended new immigrant, visitor (B-1/B-2), student (F, M) and exchange (J) visas for Nigerians abroad, with some exceptions. Other visas now carry shorter validity.

The proclamation cited Boko Haram and Islamic State activity and overstay rates: 5.56% for visitors and 11.90% for students and exchange visitors.

Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper reported in September 2026 that the restrictions remained in force.

For investors, Nigeria’s population is a long-term story. By 2100 the UN projects Nigeria will have more people than the United States.

How Abuja manages that growth is a political question; see our profile of President Bola Tinubu.

What Is Not Known

Nobody knows Nigeria’s exact population. Every current figure is an estimate, because the census planned for 2023 was postponed on 29 April 2023 and never held.

In July 2026 the National Population Commission said only the president can set the next census date. It added that the count cannot fall in an election year.

Later that month, a Senate committee chairman said lawmakers would seek a law fixing a ten-year census cycle.

Money is another open question. The Auditor-General for the Federation, the federal spending watchdog, flagged more than N245 billion (about US$184 million) in census contracts and payments.

That dollar figure uses about 1,330 naira to the US dollar, the rate in October 2026, when the findings were reported.

Group shares are uncertain too. The survey covers adults aged 15 to 49 who describe themselves, so national shares by faith and ethnicity may differ.

The UN’s medium projection assumes the fertility rate falls to about 2.7 children per woman by 2050. A slower decline would leave Nigeria with many more people.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the population of Nigeria in 2026?

About 242.4 million people in mid-2026, according to the UN’s World Population Prospects 2024. Officials of Nigeria’s National Population Commission cited 238 million to 242 million in July 2026.

What are the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria?

The Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. In the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 32.7% of women said Hausa, 12.8% Yoruba, 11.2% Igbo and 6.6% Fulani.

Is Nigeria mostly Muslim or Christian?

Both faiths are large. In the 2024 survey, about 58% of women and men aged 15 to 49 said they were Muslim and 41% to 42% Christian, with Islam dominant in the northwest and northeast.

How many languages are spoken in Nigeria?

Ethnologue lists 520 living languages in Nigeria. English is the official language, and the constitution lets the National Assembly also work in Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.

When was Nigeria’s last census?

In 2006, when it counted 140,431,790 people. A census planned for 2023 was postponed, so every newer figure for Nigeria’s population is an estimate.

How many Nigerians live in the United States?

The US Census Bureau counted 532,602 Nigerian-born residents in 2024, the largest African-born group. Another measure, ancestry, counted 858,236 people.

Will Nigeria have more people than the United States?

The UN projects it will. Its medium projection shows about 477 million Nigerians in 2100, against about 421 million Americans.

Sources: UN DESA, World Population Prospects 2024 (demographic indicators, Nigeria), 2024; National Population Commission, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and ICF, Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2024, September 2025; World Bank, World Development Indicators (Nigeria: population, urban share, largest city, remittances, migrant stock), October 2026; UN Statistics Division, Demographic Statistics (Nigeria 2006 census), 2010; US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024, tables B05006 and B04006, September 2025; Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), 2011; US Department of State, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Nigeria, 2024; The White House, Proclamation: Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals, 16 December 2025; Library of Congress, Country Profile: Nigeria, July 2008; Ethnologue, Nigeria, 2026; Vanguard, Nigeria cannot plan for population it does not count, says NPC, 12 July 2026; The Guardian (Nigeria), NPC harps on credible, technology-driven census, 8 July 2026; The Guardian (Nigeria), Are Nigerians allowed to travel to the USA?, 10 September 2026; The Nigerian Observer, NASS to push bill for fixed 10-year census cycle, 28 July 2026; The State House, Abuja, President Tinubu reaffirms skills development drive, 9 October 2026; Premium Times, Auditor-General report on the National Population Commission, 8 October 2026.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief