Nigeria Elections: List of Nigerian states by population
The following table lists Nigeria’s 36 states in order of total population, as calculated by the 2022 Census, as well as their 2016 predicted numbers, as published by the National Bureau of Statistics.
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Rank (2022) |
State |
Population (2012) |
Population (2022) |
1 |
Lagos State |
16,000,288 |
21,000,000 |
2 |
Kano State |
9,113,605 |
12,550,598 |
3 |
Kaduna State |
6,113,503 |
8,252,366 |
4 |
Oyo State |
5,580,894 |
7,840,864 |
5 |
Katsina State |
5,801,584 |
7,831,319 |
6 |
Rivers State |
5,198,716 |
7,303,924 |
7 |
Bauchi State |
4,653,066 |
6,537,314 |
8 |
Borno State |
4,171,104 |
5,860,183 |
9 |
Jigawa State |
4,361,002 |
5,828,163 |
10 |
Benue State |
4,253,641 |
5,741,815 |
11 |
Delta State |
4,112,445 |
5,663,362 |
12 |
Niger State |
3,954,772 |
5,556,247 |
13 |
Anambra State |
4,177,828 |
5,527,809 |
14 |
Akwa Ibom State |
3,902,051 |
5,482,177 |
15 |
Imo State |
3,927,563 |
5,408,756 |
16 |
Ogun State |
3,751,140 |
5,217,716 |
17 |
Sokoto State |
3,702,676 |
4,998,090 |
18 |
Osun State |
3,416,959 |
4,705,589 |
19 |
Ondo State |
3,460,877 |
4,671,695 |
20 |
Zamfara State |
3,278,873 |
4,515,427 |
21 |
Kogi State |
3,314,043 |
4,473,490 |
22 |
Kebbi State |
3,256,541 |
4,440,050 |
23 |
Enugu State |
3,267,837 |
4,411,119 |
24 |
Edo State |
3,233,366 |
4,235,595 |
25 |
Adamawa State |
3,178,950 |
4,248,436 |
26 |
Plateau State |
3,206,531 |
4,200,442 |
27 |
Cross River State |
2,892,988 |
3,866,269 |
28 |
Abia State |
2,845,380 |
3,727,347 |
– |
Federal Capital Territory |
1,406,239 |
3,564,126 |
29 |
Yobe State |
2,321,339 |
3,294,137 |
30 |
Ekiti State |
2,398,957 |
3,270,798 |
31 |
Gombe State |
2,365,040 |
3,256,962 |
32 |
Kwara State |
2,365,353 |
3,192,893 |
33 |
Taraba State |
2,294,800 |
3,066,834 |
34 |
Ebonyi State |
2,176,947 |
2,880,383 |
35 |
Nasarawa State |
1,869,377 |
2,523,395 |
36 |
Bayelsa State |
1,704,515 |
2,277,961 |
