Population Size of Lagos State

What is the Population Size of Lagos State?

In this article, we shall discuss the population size of Lagos state, profile of the state, location, demography and it’s emergence as mega city. Feel free to contribute in the comment succession.

Profile of Lagos State

By virtue of States [Creation and Transitional Provisions] Decree No. 14 of 1967 which restructured Nigeria’s Federation into 12 States, Lagos State was created on May 27, 1967. Before this time, Lagos was administered as a Federal Territory by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the ministry of Lagos Affairs as the regional authority, while the City of Lagos was governed by the Lagos City Council. The then Western Region Government administered the Metropolitan areas [Colony Province] of Ikeja, Mushin, Ojo, Agege, Epe, Ikorodu and Badagry. On April 11, 1968, the State officially kick off as an administrative entity while Lagos Island served as the Federal Capital.

In 1976, Lagos ceased to function as the Capital of the state due to the creation of the federal Capital Territory of Abuja and Lagos State Capital was moved to Ikeja. The formal relocation of the seat of the Federal Government to Abuja on 12^th December, 1991 put an end to the functioning of Lagos state as Nigeria’s political capital. But nevertheless, Lagos as proudly called “The Centre of Excellence” remains the nation’s economic and commercial capital. A lot of people are actually of the view that there is no Nigeria without Lagos which means Lagos remains the head.

Location

Lagos State is located on the South-Western region of Nigeria. This is situated on the narrow plain of the bright of Benin which lys approximately on longitude 20 42’E and 32 2’E respectively, and between latitude 60 22’N and 60 2’N. At the North and East boundary of Lagos is Ogun state, and in the West is Republic of Benin which cut across over 180 kilometres along the Guinea Coast of the Bight of Benin on the Atlantic Ocean. Lagos political jurisdiction includes the city of Lagos, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry. These administrations are referred to as IBILE collectively and covers an area of 358,862 hectares or 3,577 sq. km. which represents 0.4% of Nigeria’s total territorial landmass of 923,773 sq. km.

Demography

In terms of landmass, Lagos is the smallest state in Nigeria, and yet, has the highest urban population of about 27.4% of the national population size. A national population census which was conducted in 2006 put Lagos to have 9,013,534 out of the national count of 140,003,542. As at 2015, based on the UN-Habitat and international development agencies, Lagos state population was estimated to be having about 2.6 million inhabitants. It further revealed that about 85% of the population lives in the Metropolitan Lagos on an area that is 37% of the total landmass of the state. Another study also reveals that Lagos population is growing 10 times faster than that of New York and Los Angeles. Lagos state population is equivalent to the population of 32 African nations combined. Since the population of Lagos state was predicted to hit 35 million mark in 2020, it might as well already be up to in this 2022.

The Lagos Mega City

Lagos state attained the status of a megacity in 1995 when it’s population soared over 10 million people according to the UN-Habitat. The city is the World’s sixth megacity and a bourgeoning global urban agglomeration. This also gave rise to the city being Africa’s foremost urban centre and hub of national, regional and global socio-economic and political activities.

Source: Lagos State Government