Lagos

• The population of Lagos is 17.5 million according to the state government, or 21 million according to the national government
• Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria and a megacity
• Annual rate of natural increase in Nigeria

  2.5% every 5 years
• Life expectancy in Lagos

  54.5 years
• Life expectancy across Nigeria

  53.4 years
• There are more doctors and hospitals in Lagos than in the surrounding rural areas
• Lagos has clean water supplies, electricity into housing and good entertainment centres and malls
• In 2019, Nigerian startups raised $600 million in investor funding, which is 50% of the startup investment in Africa and most of this funding was negotiated in Nigerian cities
• GDP per capita in Nigeria


  Twice the GDP per capita of Nigeria
• Lagos is Nigeria's biggest city for banking, investment, and international transactions
• Housing in Nigeria is 77% more expensive and food is 25% more expensive in African cities than in rural areas
• In 2016, the World Bank found that 23% of people living in Nigeria lived in slums
• Makoko, Badia, and Agege are some of the largest slums in Lagos
• Many people in the Makoko slum moved to Lagos to earn a living fishing, but the waters near the slum are full of sewage and fish struggle to live there
• Many of the children living in the Lagos slums do not go to school
• Unemployed men who live in the Makoko slum create vigilante groups to provide security, called 'Area Boys'
• Lots of people scavenge for rubbish in the city to try to earn a living
• Nigeria's murder rate


  9.85 murders per 100,000 people
• UK's murder rate


  1.2 per 100,000 people
• There are 1 million cars in Lagos and their emissions can contribute to things like acid rain
• Traffic is awful in Lagos, public transport is bad and a few key bridges act as bottlenecks for all the cars
• Smog is a problem in Lagos
• The Olusosun landfill site is the largest dump in Africa, with 10,000 tons of rubbish put in the ground there each day
• People drink water from the area where fishermen fish and people go to the toilet in the same water, spreading waterborne diseases like cholera
• The World Bank has given funding to try to improve the sanitation in the Lagos slums
• The water in Lagos' lagoon is too polluted to be used as drinking water
• Percentage of people with daily access to clean water in Lagos

  67% to 81%
• Urban planning


  The technical and political process concerned with the development and design of land use and the built environment, including infrastructure such as transportation, communications and distribution networks
• The population of Lagos is increasing by 700,000 people a year
• The Floating School was built in 2014 in Makoko using recycled plastic barrels and is also used as a community centre out of school hours
• Lagos is expected to have a population of 24 million by 2035, making it 4 times more crowded than London
• Sea levels are expected to rise by 1 metre by the end of the century
• Many people in Lagos lack access to reliable and affordable water, sanitation, and electricity
• A floating community in the lagoon could reduce the pressure on the crowded and space-constrained Lagos mainland
• Floating housing and community buildings would be able to withstand the impact of rising sea levels in the future
• The triangular building shape and gutters that collect rainwater provide opportunities for water storage
• Solar PV panels on the roof of the floating buildings provide sustainable, self-sufficient electricity for the urban poor