Countries · Africa
Nigeria
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and a major oil producer, and a BRICS partner country.
At a glance
Net inflows of foreign direct investment were $4.01bn in 2025, against an average of $2.10bn a year in 2015–2024. Investors based in Nigeria put a net $1.19bn into direct investment abroad in the same year, less than Nigeria received. Foreign investors were net buyers of $0.84bn of shares in Nigeria in 2025. Money sent home by workers abroad came to $22.8bn in 2025, equal to 7.8% of GDP.
Devaluations of the naira in 2023 and 2024 cut the dollar value of Nigeria's economy by more than half between 2022 and 2024 in the World Bank figures. Remittances, at $22.8bn in 2025, are far larger than direct investment.
Direct and equity investment
Annual net flows, $bn. Direct investment means building or buying businesses; portfolio equity means buying listed shares and fund units.
Net flows by year
Direct investment into and out of Nigeria, and foreign buying of its shares, $bn.
Current account and reserves
The balance of trade and income with the rest of the world, and the reserves held by the central bank.
Current account balance
Each year, $bn. A surplus means the country lends to the rest of the world.
Foreign exchange reserves, including gold
End of year, $bn.
Remittances
Money sent home by people working abroad, compared with direct investment, $bn.
Remittances and direct investment
Each year, $bn.
The economy
GDP
Current US dollars, $bn. Dollar figures also move with exchange rates.
Growth and inflation
Real GDP growth and consumer price inflation, per cent.
All figures
Annual figures from the World Bank, as published. Download them for every country on the data page.
| Indicator | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population (m) | 190.67 | 195.44 | 200.25 | 204.94 | 209.49 | 214.00 | 218.53 | 223.15 | 227.88 | 232.68 | 237.53 |
| GDP ($bn) | 493.0 | 404.6 | 375.7 | 421.7 | 668.2 | 598.6 | 609.1 | 647.0 | 487.4 | 252.3 | 290.8 |
| GDP per person ($) | 2,586 | 2,070 | 1,876 | 2,058 | 3,190 | 2,797 | 2,787 | 2,899 | 2,139 | 1,084 | 1,224 |
| Real GDP growth (%) | 2.7 | −1.6 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 2.2 | −6.4 | 1.1 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| Inflation (%) | 9.0 | 15.7 | 16.5 | 12.1 | 11.4 | 13.2 | 17.0 | 18.8 | 24.7 | 33.2 | 23.0 |
| Current account ($bn) | −15.44 | 5.08 | 13.56 | 7.28 | −13.69 | −15.99 | −3.25 | 1.02 | 6.42 | 19.03 | 14.04 |
| Current account (% GDP) | −3.1 | 1.3 | 3.6 | 1.7 | −2.0 | −2.7 | −0.5 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 7.5 | 4.8 |
| Reserves incl. gold ($bn) | 29.0 | 28.0 | 40.5 | 42.8 | 39.4 | 38.0 | 41.7 | 36.8 | 33.5 | 40.4 | 46.0 |
| Direct investment in ($bn) | 3.06 | 3.45 | 2.41 | 0.78 | 2.31 | 2.39 | 3.31 | −0.19 | 1.87 | 1.61 | 4.01 |
| Direct investment out ($bn) | 1.44 | 0.34 | 0.31 | 0.57 | 0.29 | 1.47 | 1.82 | −0.07 | 0.26 | 0.41 | 1.19 |
| Portfolio equity in ($bn) | −0.48 | 0.33 | 1.36 | 1.26 | −1.55 | −0.26 | 0.07 | 0.29 | 1.59 | 1.92 | 0.84 |
| Remittances ($bn) | 20.63 | 19.70 | 22.04 | 24.31 | 23.81 | 17.21 | 19.48 | 20.13 | 19.55 | 22.13 | 22.79 |
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