Population Growth in Lagos

Geography: KS3, topic 4.4.4

Facebook data shows that Lagos is the most popular city in the world for people to relocate to from rural areas.

From 1444, Lagos was a key port or trading location in the slave trade in West Africa.
On the 1st of October 1960, Nigeria became independent from the United Kingdom.
The oil industry flourished in newly independent Nigeria and Lagos became a trading hub for Nigerian oil.

96% of the people who moved to Lagos between 2000 and 2012 came from other parts of Nigeria.
Lagos' population grew by an average of 18% between 2000 and 2012.
Natural increase (birth rates being greater than death rates in the city) is a contributing factor to Lagos' population growth.
The terrorist group Boko Haram (or the Islamic State in West Africa) is active in northern Nigeria, and nearby Cameroon, Chad & Niger. Their terrorist attacks, kidnappings and ethnic conflict drove many people to leave the area.

Lagos used to be inhabited only by the Yoruba people. 30-40 million people speak the Yoruba language today.
In the last few decades, the population has grown hugely, often crowding out the culture of the original Yoruba inhabitants.

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