Africa on the Ground

Western Africa

Nigeria

Capital Abuja · 238 million people

Population238 million
Area923,770 km²
People per km²257
Rank by population1 of 54

Nigeria at a glance

Nigeria is in Western Africa. Its capital is Abuja[1]. About 238 million people live there[3], on 923,770 km²[4]: the most populous and number 14 by area of the 54 countries on this site. The sentences and figures on this page are calculated from those sources; the writing about places and people is on the cards and stories below.

Capital
Abuja[1]
Region
Western Africa[2]
Population
237,527,782, 2025 estimate[3]
Area
923,770 km², including inland water[4]
Government
federal presidential republic[5]
Languages marked official by the Factbook
English[5]
African languages mentioned by the Factbook
Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fula[5]
Religion, share of people
Muslim 54%, Christian 46% (2018 estimate)[5]
Regional blocs
AU, ECOWAS[6][7][8][9]

Places in Nigeria

Stories that touch Nigeria

Keep exploring

From people who know Nigeria

What readers add

No local voice on Nigeria yet.Notes are added once the author has agreed to publication, and are read by people who know the subject afterwards.
Not yet sourced
  • Population is an estimate for 2025 and area a 2023 value; neither is a census figure.
  • Government, languages and religions are the World Factbook's words and carry its own estimate years. Language and religion groupings are ours and flatten real differences.
  • This page has no history, daily life or economy of its own yet. Those belong to the place cards and stories, with their own sources and local voices.

Sources

  1. Institutional[1] Country metadata: capital city. World Bank. api.worldbank.org retrieved 6 Oct 2026
    One capital per country. The World Bank writes some names without accents; they are restored here.
  2. Institutional[2] Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49). United Nations Statistics Division. unstats.un.org retrieved 6 Oct 2026
    Source of the five African subregions. The classification is for statistical convenience and implies no assumption about political affiliation.
  3. Institutional[3] Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL). World Bank. data.worldbank.org retrieved 6 Oct 2026
    Most recent value per country, 2025, obtained through the World Bank API. Estimates, not census counts.
  4. Institutional[4] Surface area, sq. km (AG.SRF.TOTL.K2). World Bank. data.worldbank.org retrieved 6 Oct 2026
    Most recent value per country, 2023, obtained through the World Bank API. Total area including inland water.
  5. Institutional · to verify[5] The World Factbook: Government type, Languages, Religions (africa/*.json). CIA, via the factbook/factbook.json copy on GitHub. github.com retrieved 7 Oct 2026
    Public-domain text copied unchanged. The copy does not say which edition it holds, and each figure carries its own estimate year in the text. Shares are estimates from censuses or surveys of different years; official languages are as the Factbook records them.
  6. Institutional[6] African Union member states. African Union. au.int retrieved 7 Oct 2026
    Lists 55 member states by region, including the Sahrawi Republic. The list does not show suspensions.
  7. Institutional[7] African Union overview. African Union. au.int retrieved 7 Oct 2026
    Gives the founding of the OAU (May 1963) and the launch of the African Union (July 2002).
  8. Institutional[8] ECOWAS member states. ECOWAS Commission. www.ecowas.int retrieved 7 Oct 2026
    The page lists 12 states. Its introduction on the same site still says fifteen. Read on 2026-10-07.
  9. Institutional[9] History of ECOWAS. ECOWAS Commission. www.ecowas.int retrieved 7 Oct 2026
    Gives the Lagos treaty (1975), its revision (1993) and Mauritania's withdrawal (December 2000).