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Abuja, 
Nigeria
1,373,722 people lived in Abuja in 2025. It is the 368th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 13th largest in Nigeria, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Abuja governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Abuja grew
For every 10 people in Abuja in 1995, there were 100.9 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.4 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 2015 and 2020. The UN first counts it as a city in 1995, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Abuja through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Abuja in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Nigeria · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Abuja is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Nigeria in 2025, 457 in all, led by Lagos, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Abuja covered 346 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 84 km² of it. That is 61 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 8.3 times its size, and its people are 10.1 times as many.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in Nigeria
Its share of Nigeria
Of every 1,000 people in Nigeria in 2025, 6 lived in Abuja, which is 1.4 million people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Nigeria; the coloured squares live in Abuja. 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
- 364 Portland United States1,397,788
- 365 Durg India1,393,235
- 366 Valencia Spain1,390,045
- 367 Aboh1,374,320
- 368 Abuja1,373,722
- 369 Thrissur India1,371,675
- 370 Fort Lauderdale United States1,368,027
- 371 León Mexico1,367,521
- 372 Xining China1,360,245
In Nigeria, 2025
- 305 Warri1,607,702
- 316 Uyo1,567,115
- 355 Aba1,428,069
- 367 Aboh1,374,320
- 368 Abuja1,373,722
- 399 Ilorin1,282,219
- 420 Maiduguri1,225,505
- 464 Enugu1,115,303
- 503 Otite1,020,218
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Abuja are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1995 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 Abuja 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