Nobody knows Nigeria's population, roughly speaking
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country. How populous is a surprisingly open question. The last census was 2006, the next has been postponed repeatedly, and estimates from different agencies span a range wider than the entire population of Ghana.
Counting is political: census numbers feed straight into revenue allocation and parliamentary seats, so every figure has constituencies for and against it.
Satellite-based estimates like WorldPop's suggest some official state numbers run high. Until a census lands, Nigeria's line on any dashboard, ours included, deserves a wide error bar.
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Explainer
The 2008 census's long shadow (Arabic)
كل رقم حالي عن السودان إسقاط من تعداد أُجري قبل انتشار الهواتف الذكية هنا.
2026-08-08
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The most misleading honest number (Arabic)
متوسط الكثافة في السودان 26 نسمة للكيلومتر المربع، ولا أحد تقريباً يعيش بهذه الكثافة.
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A reader's guide to the live counter (Arabic)
العداد على صفحتنا الرئيسية إسقاط حسابي وليس عداً مباشراً. هكذا تقرأه بشكل صحيح.
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Explainer
Half the population, harder to count
From birth registration to labour surveys, women are undercounted in specific, fixable ways.
2026-08-08
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