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Lagos — UN urban centre

12,791,699

Lagos: 12,791,699 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #26 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 1265; territory: Nigeria (NGA). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: 6.5684, 3.3103. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19752,612,450Estimate
19803,414,699Estimate
19854,486,575Estimate
19905,762,980Estimate
19956,887,200Estimate
20007,908,961Estimate
20059,007,119Estimate
201010,133,104Estimate
201511,091,934Estimate
202012,012,080Estimate
202512,791,699Estimate
203013,616,401Projection
203514,323,912Projection
204015,021,582Projection
204515,619,655Projection
205016,180,326Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

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This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

Why an urban centre is not a municipality →

Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.