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Abakaliki, 
Nigeria
406,105 people lived in Abakaliki in 2025. It is the 1392nd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 50th largest in Nigeria.
Like every city on this site, Abakaliki is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Abakaliki grew
For every 10 people in Abakaliki in 1975, there were 54 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 644,159 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2005 and 2010.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Abakaliki through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Abakaliki in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Nigeria · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 457 cities in Nigeria in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Lagos. The ringed dot in colour is Abakaliki; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Abakaliki covered 70 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 15 km² of it. That is 36 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 4.6 times its size, and its people are 5.4 times as many.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in Nigeria
Its share of Nigeria
Of every 1,000 people in Nigeria in 2025, 2 lived in Abakaliki, which is 406,105 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Nigeria; the coloured squares live in Abakaliki. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1388 Jalna India406,973
- 1389 Dhamar Yemen406,929
- 1390 Bhind India406,712
- 1391 Resistencia Argentina406,337
- 1392 Abakaliki406,105
- 1393 Kumbakonam India405,885
- 1394 Daqing China405,480
- 1395 Jiashan China405,454
- 1396 Hebron Palestine405,079
In Nigeria, 2025
- 1315 Dere425,674
- 1332 Bida421,605
- 1343 Ikot Ekpene418,650
- 1382 Makurdi408,753
- 1392 Abakaliki406,105
- 1401 Asaba403,859
- 1413 Saki400,875
- 1427 Potiskum397,981
- 1464 Iseyin389,526
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Abakaliki are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Abakaliki publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries