What is the population of Kano?
Kano has a city population of 4,910,000. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
City profile · Nigeria · Africa
Kano
City population
4,910,000
#2
in Nigeria
#1
in Kano State
#60
worldwide
12.000, 8.517 · 346 km from Abuja
About Kano
Home to 2.1% of Nigeria's population, Kano holds the second-largest city proper in the country with 4.91 million residents. The city sits 346 km from the capital Abuja and is surrounded by much smaller settlements; the nearest listed city, Wudil, lies 41 km away with a population of just 23,066.
This summary is AI-generated from the figures on this page. The figures themselves come from the sources cited beside each value.
Key Facts
Country
Region
Rank in region
#1of 5
Elevation
484 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Africa/Lagos
Coordinates
12.000, 8.517
Record updated
2026-04-14
Entry edited, not measured
City population, GeoNames. GeoNames publishes no year for its population figures, so “record updated” is when the entry was last edited — not the date the population was measured. Elevation is modelled from a digital elevation model rather than surveyed, so it is approximate.
Nearby Cities
All 268 in NigeriaClosest listed cities by great-circle distance from the city centre.
Compared with the World's Largest Cities
City-proper population against the fifteen largest cities in the dataset.
| Name | City population |
|---|---|
| Shanghai | 24.9M |
| Beijing | 19M |
| Shenzhen | 17.5M |
| Guangzhou | 16.1M |
| Kinshasa | 16M |
| Istanbul | 15.7M |
| Lagos | 15.4M |
| Ho Chi Minh City | 14M |
| Chengdu | 13.6M |
| Lahore | 13M |
| Mumbai | 12.7M |
| São Paulo | 12.4M |
| Mexico City | 12.3M |
| Karachi | 11.6M |
| Tianjin | 11.1M |
| Kano | 4.91M |
Kano Population FAQ
Where is Kano?
Kano is in Kano State, Nigeria, 346 km from the capital, Abuja. Its coordinates are 12.000, 8.517.
How big is Kano compared with other cities in Nigeria?
It is the 2nd largest of the 268 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Nigeria, holding 2.1% of the national population.