28 series and
1,181 data points,
most of them running back to 1960. Open any chart to read it year by
year, with its lowest and highest points named.
Almost all of this is Nigeria, not Lagos
Almost no economic time series exists for Lagos alone. Everything marked Nigeria is national and is labelled that way on purpose.
Nobody publishes a GDP series, an inflation series or a school
enrolment series for Lagos State on its own, so this page does not
pretend to. You can filter to the Lagos figures alone, and there are
fewer of them than you would expect.
What we actually have for Lagos
Almost nothing, and it is worth being blunt about why. Nigeria
publishes no state GDP series and no state inflation series in any
machine-readable form, and it has not held a census since 2006. So
the Lagos record is one population count and the
state's area — and the count is disputed.
Lagos State at the 2006 census
Census
People
Per km²
Share of Nigeria
2006
9,113,605
2,548
6.5%
A count nobody in Lagos accepts
Lagos State ran its own parallel count in 2006 and said it found more
than 17.5 million people — nearly twice the official figure.
In 2013 the National Census Tribunal nullified the 2006 results for
14 of the state's 20 local government areas and ordered a recount.
The recount was never held.
So the official figure above is the only one with a census behind
it, and it is very probably far too low. Every larger figure you will
see quoted for Lagos is an estimate or a projection, not a count.
Density is over the state's 3,577 km²,
nearly a quarter of which is lagoon and creek, so the land itself is
more crowded than the figure suggests.
Every series, and what it covers
First value, last value, and how many observations there are. The
scope column is the important one.
Lagos State itself (1)
Series
Unit
First
Latest
Points
Source
People in Lagos State
people
9.1m 2006
9.1m 2006
1
National Population Commission, 2006 census final results
Derived from two sourced numbers (2)
Series
Unit
First
Latest
Points
Source
People per square kilometre in Lagos State
per km²
2,548 2006
2,548 2006
1
The 2006 count divided by the state's 3,577 km²
Share of all Nigerians counted in Lagos State
%
6.5% 2006
6.5% 2006
1
Lagos State over Nigeria, both from the 2006 census
Nigeria as a whole, not Lagos (25)
Series
Unit
First
Latest
Points
Source
Population of Nigeria
people
45.1m 1960
237.5m 2025
66
World Bank, indicator SP.POP.TOTL
Population growth
% a year
2.1% 1961
2.1% 2025
65
World Bank, indicator SP.POP.GROW
Urban population
people
6.4m 1960
151.5m 2025
66
World Bank, indicator SP.URB.TOTL
Share of Nigerians living in towns and cities
%
14.2% 1960
63.8% 2025
66
World Bank, indicator SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS
Urban population growth
% a year
5.9% 1961
3.3% 2025
65
World Bank, indicator SP.URB.GROW
Life expectancy at birth
years
37.2 1960
54.6 2024
65
World Bank, indicator SP.DYN.LE00.IN
Births per woman
births
6.4 1960
4.4 2024
65
World Bank, indicator SP.DYN.TFRT.IN
Under fifteens
% of population
41.1% 1960
40.5% 2025
66
World Bank, indicator SP.POP.0014.TO.ZS
GDP
US$
$4.2bn 1960
$290.8bn 2025
66
World Bank, indicator NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
GDP per person
US$
$93.1 1960
$1,224 2025
66
World Bank, indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.CD
GDP growth
% a year
0.2% 1961
4% 2025
65
World Bank, indicator NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG
Inflation
% a year
5.4% 1960
23% 2025
66
World Bank, indicator FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG
Naira to the US dollar
NGN
0.7 1960
1,518 2025
66
World Bank, indicator PA.NUS.FCRF
Money sent home from abroad
US$
$20.2m 1977
$22.8bn 2025
49
World Bank, indicator BX.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT
Unemployment
% of labour force
3.8% 1991
3.1% 2025
35
World Bank, indicator SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS
Finishing primary school
% of age group
80.6% 2000
70.2% 2010
8
World Bank, indicator SE.PRM.CMPT.ZS
Enrolled in tertiary education
% of age group
0.7% 1975
9.7% 2011
21
World Bank, indicator SE.TER.ENRR
Government spending on education
% of GDP
3.2% 1974
0.3% 2023
14
World Bank, indicator SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS
Adult literacy
% of adults
55.5% 1991
70.4% 2024
6
World Bank, indicator SE.ADT.LITR.ZS
Access to electricity
% of population
27.3% 1990
62.5% 2024
35
World Bank, indicator EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS
Basic drinking water
% of population
44.5% 2000
82.2% 2024
25
World Bank, indicator SH.H2O.BASW.ZS
Basic sanitation
% of population
28% 2000
47.9% 2024
25
World Bank, indicator SH.STA.BASS.ZS
Using the internet
% of population
0% 1990
41.2% 2024
30
World Bank, indicator IT.NET.USER.ZS
Mobile subscriptions
per 100 people
0 1960
70.8 2024
53
World Bank, indicator IT.CEL.SETS.P2
Health spending
% of GDP
3.2% 2000
4.2% 2023
24
World Bank, indicator SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS
Not shown, because the World Bank has no usable series for Nigeria:
exports (1 observation), enrolled in secondary school (0 observations).
Fetched on 2026-10-16. Nothing here is modelled,
interpolated or forecast: where a series is sparse it stays sparse, and
the charts draw the observations rather than joining across the gaps.