Lagos (; LAY-goss; Yoruba: Èkó [èkó]), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan port city in southwestern Nigeria. As of November 2025, the size of the city's population has been estimated to be between 17 and 21 million residents, making Lagos the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and one of the fastest-growing megacities in the world.
The lands are separated by creeks, fringing the southwest mouth of Lagos Lagoon, while being protected from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier islands and long sand spits such as Bar Beach, which stretch up to 100 kilometres (62 mi) east and west of the mouth.
With its international airport, three ports (Apapa, Tin Can Island and Lekki deep-sea port), four expressways (to Badagry, Abeokuta, Ibadan and Calabar, the latter under construction since 2023 and partially operational in 2026), and the standard-gauge rail link to Abeokuta and Ibadan, the city is well connected in terms of transport and handles 88% of Nigeria’s exports. The urban rail transit system in Lagos is regarded as one of the most modern of its kind in Africa.
Lagos is best known as the leading financial centre of West and Central Africa, with headquarters of financial institutions like Access Bank, the First Bank of Nigeria or Zenith Bank. The Nigerian Exchange Group, the main stock exchange group in Nigeria, is also located here. Other major employers include two breweries, three major shipyards and the headquarters of several African airlines. Lagos is also home to numerous pharmaceutical companies; the city is also an exhibition city: Art X Lagos is West Africa’s largest art fair, whilst Lagos Fashion Week is Africa’s largest fashion fair. It has more than 20 data centres in operation and branches of Microsoft, Equinix and Google. Five out of seven African high tech start-ups with a value above US$ 1 billion ("unicorns") are located in Lagos. The employer with the most staff is the Dangote Refinery, which, once expanded, will be the world’s largest oil refinery.
Lagos houses four public universities (LASU, UNILAG, LASUSTECH, and LASUED) and six private universites as well as scientific facilities like the Institute for Oceanography and the Institute of Medical Research. Lagos is also a cultural hub. The National Arts Theatre in Surulere, the National Gallery of Modern Art (in the same building), the Centre For Black And African Arts on Broad Street, the National Museum and the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture in Onikan and privately run galleries like Nike Art Gallery (West Africa's biggest art collection) display Nigerias culture. The conservatoire MUSON Centre, many local orchestras and choirs (like the Lagos City Chorale or the Cathedral Church of Christ Choir) as well as writers like Sefi Atta, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Ayòbámi Adébáyò and artists like Dotun Popoola, Peju Alatise, Idowu Sonaya and Collins Abinoro Akporode represent Lagos' creative scene. Furthermore, Lagos is the centre of media outlets and of Nigerian cinema, "Nollywood". The lagoon city also is a hot spot for West African music ("Afrobeats"); in its recording studios Nigerian stars like Wizkid, Tems, Davido, and Asake have started their careers. International stars like Paul McCartney, James Brown, Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé have recorded albums there.
Lagos is derived from the Portuguese word for "lakes". The pronunciation (LAY-goss) is typically standard in British and Nigerian English. Due to the United States' much higher amount of placenames originating in Spanish - which is closely related to Portuguese - relative to Britain, speakers of American English often use the pronunciation (LAH-gohss), which is more similar to the original Portuguese pronunciation. The native Yoruba name Èkó is also used by Yoruba people. Lagos was most likely named after Lagos, Portugal, as it was the main centre of Portuguese maritime expeditions down the African coast in the 15th century.
Lagos emerged as a home to the Awori people, a subgroup of the Yoruba of West Africa in the 15th century. They lived in the area which is centered on the present-day Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, Amuwo-Odofin, and Apapa. Before the 15th century, the Awori settled on a farmstead along the coastal line, in and around which they worked and lived. "Farmstead" or "hamlet" translates to Ereko in Yoruba, from which comes the indigenous name of Lagos; Eko.
Due to rapid urbanisation, the city expanded to the west of the lagoon to include areas in the present-day Lagos Mainland, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, and Surulere. This led to the classification of Lagos into two main areas: the Island, which was the original city of Lagos, and the Mainland, which it has since expanded into. This city area was governed directly by the Federal Government through the Lagos City Council until the creation of Lagos State in 1967, which led to the splitting of Lagos city into the present-day seven Local Government Areas (LGAs), and the addition of other towns (which now make up 13 LGAs) from the then Western Region to form the state. Present-day Lagos consists of 16 LGAs, including Ikeja, the state capital of Lagos State. While this conurbation encompasses 37% of Lagos State's total land area, it accommodates approximately 85% of the state's total population.
Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until the government's December 1991 decision to relocate its capital to Abuja, in the centre of the country.
Lagos was formerly the capital city of Nigeria, but it has since been replaced by Abuja. Abuja officially became the capital of Nigeria on 12 December 1991, although the decision to move the federal capital had been made fifteen years earlier, in Act No. 6 of 1976. Lagos is also home to the High Court of the Lagos State Judiciary, housed in an old colonial building on Lagos Island.
In terms of administration, Lagos is not a single municipality and therefore has no overall city administration. The geographical city limits of Metropolitan Lagos comprise 16 of the 20 Local Government Areas of Lagos State. The latter entity provides overall government for the metropolitan region. The former Municipality of Lagos, which covered Lagos Island, Ikoyi, and Victoria Island as well as some mainland territory, was managed by the Lagos City Council (LCC), but it was disbanded in 1976 and divided into several Local Government Areas (most notably Lagos Island LGA, Lagos Mainland LGA, and Eti-Osa LGA).
The mainland beyond the Municipality of Lagos, on the other hand, included several separate towns and settlements such as Mushin, Ikeja, and Agege. In the wake of the 1970s Nigerian oil boom, Lagos experienced a population explosion, untamed economic growth, and unmitigated rural migration. This caused the outlying towns and settlements to develop rapidly, thus forming the present-day "Lagos Metropolitan Area", also known as "Metropolitan Lagos". The history of Lagos is still evidenced in the layout of the LGAs that display the unique identities of the cultures that created them.
By 2006, the metro area around Lagos had extended beyond Lagos State's boundaries and attained a megacity status. This much larger area is referred to as "Greater Metropolitan Lagos" or "Lagos Megacity Region", which is a continuously built-up land area of an additional 1,535.4 square kilometres (592.8 square miles), in LGAs situated next to Lagos's eastern and western city limits in Lagos State, and also beyond its northern limits, spilling into some LGAs in adjoining Ogun State. Ogun State LGAs that have become part of Greater Metropolitan Lagos include Obafemi Owode, Sagamu, Ifo, Ado-Odo/Ota, and part of Ewekoro.
Today, the word Lagos most often refers to the urban area, called "Metropolitan Lagos" in Nigeria, which includes both the islands of the former municipality of Lagos and the mainland suburbs. The Lagos State government is responsible for some of the utilities, including roads and transportation, power, water, health, and education. Metropolitan Lagos extends over 16 of the 20 LGAs of Lagos State and contains about 85% of the population of Lagos State, including some semi-rural areas. Lagos has a considerable number of high-rise buildings that dominate its skyline. Most of the tall buildings are located in the downtown Central Business District.