Rural population in Nigeria
Nigeria: Rural population was 86.04 million in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rural population in Nigeria, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
In 2025, rural population in Nigeria stood at 86.04 million.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.1% on the previous year and up 1.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in Nigeria peaked at 86.20 million in 2023 and was at its lowest, 38.64 million, in 1960.
That places Nigeria 7th out of 215 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 41.25 million | 38.64 million | 43.95 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 48.19 million | 44.59 million | 52.44 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 57.86 million | 53.54 million | 62.01 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 66.95 million | 62.95 million | 70.83 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 75.63 million | 71.69 million | 79.62 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 83.76 million | 80.53 million | 85.97 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 86.14 million | 86.04 million | 86.20 million | 6 |
Countries ranked near Nigeria
More agriculture & rural data for Nigeria
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 66.82 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 23.0% (2025)
- Rural population growth -0.1% (2025)
- Rural population 36.2% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.6% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.4% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 23.0% (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 23.0% (2025)
- Land under cereal production 18.28 million hectares (2024)
- Cereal production 28.47 million metric tons (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in Nigeria?
- Rural population in Nigeria was 86.04 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 86.20 million in 2023.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 38.64 million in 1960.
- How does Nigeria rank for rural population?
- Nigeria ranks 7th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Nigeria data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.