Geography Quiz Arcade

Nigeria 🇳🇬

Nigeria is a country in Africa with a population of 218,541,212. Its capital is Abuja. The official currency is NGN, and the main languages are English.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Abuja
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 218,541,212
  • Area: 923,768 km²
  • Density: 237 people per km²
  • Currency: NGN
  • Languages: English
  • ISO code: NG

Where Nigeria sits

Nigeria 🇳🇬 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Abuja. It covers 923,768 square kilometres — 31st in the world — and is home to about 218,541,212 people, 6th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Ethiopia, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and South Africa. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Nigeria compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Nigeria sits closest to Brazil and Pakistan. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Venezuela and Tanzania.

At 237 people per square kilometre it is about 4.0 times the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

English is an official language in 58 countries here, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas and Barbados, and 53 others. The NGN is used by Nigeria and no one else.

To see Nigeria next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Nigeria

Abuja replaced Lagos as the capital on 12 December 1991. Lagos is still the biggest city, which makes it a common wrong answer. For the flag, picture a white road running between two green fields.

The flag of Nigeria: green and white

🇳🇬 The flag is three vertical stripes of green, white and green. Green stands for the country's forests and natural resources, and white for peace and unity. The flag was designed by Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi and first raised at independence on 1 October 1960.

Region and neighbours

Nigeria is a large country in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea, crossed by the Niger and Benue rivers, which meet in a Y-shape. It shares land borders with 4 countries: Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Three facts about Nigeria

  1. With more than 240 million people, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the sixth-most populous in the world.
  2. The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, is the second-largest producer of films in the world.
  3. Nigeria became independent from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960.

Sources: Wikipedia: Nigeria, Wikipedia: Flag of Nigeria, Wikipedia: Abuja, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Nigeria

Quizzes that include Nigeria

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Nigeria those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Nigeria

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Nigeria flag?

The flag of Nigeria is three vertical stripes of green, white and green. Green stands for the country's forests and natural resources, and white for peace and unity. The flag was designed by Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi and first raised at independence on 1 October 1960.

Which countries border Nigeria?

Nigeria shares land borders with Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

How can I remember the capital of Nigeria?

Abuja replaced Lagos as the capital on 12 December 1991. Lagos is still the biggest city, which makes it a common wrong answer. For the flag, picture a white road running between two green fields.