Looking after someone from abroad

The UK Nigerian community in numbers

270,768 people born in Nigeria lived in England and Wales at the 2021 census, up 42% in a decade, with 117,145 of them in London. Four in five are aged 25 to 64 and fewer than 18,000 are over 65, which is the whole story of this site in two numbers: the working generation is here and the parents are there.

By Kinship · Updated 19 September 2026 · 5 min read · Information, not advice.

How many, and where

England and Wales, Census 2021: 270,768 residents born in Nigeria, against 191,183 in 2011. Scotland's 2022 census counted 21,286 and Northern Ireland's 2021 census 1,555.
By region: London 117,145; South East 32,468; North West 29,092; East of England 27,913; West Midlands 19,911; East Midlands 13,902; Yorkshire and the Humber 12,454; South West 7,691; North East 6,301; Wales 3,891.
The ten largest local authorities: Greenwich 14,357; Southwark 11,173; Manchester 10,329; Barking and Dagenham 9,434; Lewisham 9,278; Bexley 8,831; Croydon 6,185; Birmingham 5,946; Newham 5,813; Thurrock 5,481. Hackney, Lambeth, Havering, Medway, Enfield, Barnet, Coventry, Dartford, Bromley and Nottingham follow.
The wider Black African ethnic group numbered 1.5 million in England and Wales in 2021, 2.5% of the population, up from 990,000 in 2011.

How old, and what they do

Age (Census 2021): 25 to 34, 43,290; 35 to 49, 102,310 (38% of the total); 50 to 64, 64,369; 65 to 74, 11,119; 75 to 84, 5,205; 85 and over, 968. About 80% are aged 25 to 64.
Of 250,869 people aged 16 and over, 128,477 were employees and 27,356 self-employed; 12,374 were unemployed and 13,232 retired. About three quarters were economically active.
The NHS in England employed 10,494 Nigerian nationals in June 2025, its sixth-largest nationality after British, Indian, Filipino, Irish and Polish staff. The General Medical Council registered 4,691 Nigerian-trained doctors between May 2023 and April 2026.

The recent wave

Nigerian student immigration to the UK rose from 3,600 in the year to June 2019 to 45,400 in the year to June 2023, and the share arriving with dependants rose from 21% to 55%. Nigerians accounted for 65% of all student dependant visas in 2023, a record 143,000.
Dependant visas have since fallen 86% after the January 2024 rule change, but about 78% of the 2020 Nigerian cohort still held a valid visa at the end of 2025, and HMRC payroll data show the sharpest rise in jobs held between 2021 and 2025 among Indian and Nigerian employees.
In 2024 about 52,000 Nigerians came to the UK long-term, roughly 27,000 for work and 22,000 to study, placing Nigeria among the top five non-EU nationalities.

What the numbers mean for looking after family

The Nigerian-born population in the UK is young, working and settled in a few dozen boroughs and cities. Its parents, by and large, are not in the UK: 17,292 people born in Nigeria and aged 65 or over lived in England and Wales in 2021, against a working-age Nigerian-born population twelve times that size.
That is the shape of the problem Kinship exists for: hundreds of thousands of people in the UK responsible for someone in Nigeria, with money to send and no way to see what it does. The pages on who we help start from the situations that produces.

Questions people ask

How many Nigerians live in the UK?

About 294,000 people born in Nigeria across the four nations at the 2021 and 2022 censuses (270,768 in England and Wales, 21,286 in Scotland, 1,555 in Northern Ireland). Counting British-born children of Nigerian parents, the community is considerably larger; the census does not count it that way.

Which part of the UK has the most Nigerians?

London, with 117,145 Nigerian-born residents in 2021, and within London the boroughs of Greenwich, Southwark, Barking and Dagenham, Lewisham and Bexley. Outside London, Manchester and Birmingham.

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Sources

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This page is information, not advice. Kinship wrote it from the sources listed above and checked it on the date shown. It is not medical, legal, financial or insurance advice, and it does not take account of any one person's circumstances. Decisions about treatment belong with the person and their doctor; decisions about money, insurance or immigration with the person and a qualified adviser. Our platform terms apply.

The UK Nigerian community in numbers

By Kinship · Updated 19 September 2026 · 5 min read · Information, not advice.

How many, and where

England and Wales, Census 2021: 270,768 residents born in Nigeria, against 191,183 in 2011. Scotland's 2022 census counted 21,286 and Northern Ireland's 2021 census 1,555.

By region: London 117,145; South East 32,468; North West 29,092; East of England 27,913; West Midlands 19,911; East Midlands 13,902; Yorkshire and the Humber 12,454; South West 7,691; North East 6,301; Wales 3,891.

The ten largest local authorities: Greenwich 14,357; Southwark 11,173; Manchester 10,329; Barking and Dagenham 9,434; Lewisham 9,278; Bexley 8,831; Croydon 6,185; Birmingham 5,946; Newham 5,813; Thurrock 5,481. Hackney, Lambeth, Havering, Medway, Enfield, Barnet, Coventry, Dartford, Bromley and Nottingham follow.

The wider Black African ethnic group numbered 1.5 million in England and Wales in 2021, 2.5% of the population, up from 990,000 in 2011.

How old, and what they do

Age (Census 2021): 25 to 34, 43,290; 35 to 49, 102,310 (38% of the total); 50 to 64, 64,369; 65 to 74, 11,119; 75 to 84, 5,205; 85 and over, 968. About 80% are aged 25 to 64.

Of 250,869 people aged 16 and over, 128,477 were employees and 27,356 self-employed; 12,374 were unemployed and 13,232 retired. About three quarters were economically active.

The NHS in England employed 10,494 Nigerian nationals in June 2025, its sixth-largest nationality after British, Indian, Filipino, Irish and Polish staff. The General Medical Council registered 4,691 Nigerian-trained doctors between May 2023 and April 2026.

The recent wave

Nigerian student immigration to the UK rose from 3,600 in the year to June 2019 to 45,400 in the year to June 2023, and the share arriving with dependants rose from 21% to 55%. Nigerians accounted for 65% of all student dependant visas in 2023, a record 143,000.

Dependant visas have since fallen 86% after the January 2024 rule change, but about 78% of the 2020 Nigerian cohort still held a valid visa at the end of 2025, and HMRC payroll data show the sharpest rise in jobs held between 2021 and 2025 among Indian and Nigerian employees.

In 2024 about 52,000 Nigerians came to the UK long-term, roughly 27,000 for work and 22,000 to study, placing Nigeria among the top five non-EU nationalities.

What the numbers mean for looking after family

The Nigerian-born population in the UK is young, working and settled in a few dozen boroughs and cities. Its parents, by and large, are not in the UK: 17,292 people born in Nigeria and aged 65 or over lived in England and Wales in 2021, against a working-age Nigerian-born population twelve times that size.

That is the shape of the problem Kinship exists for: hundreds of thousands of people in the UK responsible for someone in Nigeria, with money to send and no way to see what it does. The pages on who we help start from the situations that produces.

Questions people ask

How many Nigerians live in the UK?

Which part of the UK has the most Nigerians?

London, with 117,145 Nigerian-born residents in 2021, and within London the boroughs of Greenwich, Southwark, Barking and Dagenham, Lewisham and Bexley. Outside London, Manchester and Birmingham.

The UK Nigerian community in numbers

How many, and where

How old, and what they do

The recent wave

What the numbers mean for looking after family

Questions people ask

How many Nigerians live in the UK?

Which part of the UK has the most Nigerians?

See how a Kinship Plan applies to your situation

Related

Sources

The UK Nigerian community in numbers

How many, and where

How old, and what they do

The recent wave

What the numbers mean for looking after family

Questions people ask

How many Nigerians live in the UK?

Which part of the UK has the most Nigerians?

See how a Kinship Plan applies to your situation

Related

Sources