GDP Rebased to ₦372trn, Yet Nigeria Remains Africa’s Fourth Largest Economy

Despite a major rebasing exercise that raised Nigeria’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) to ₦372.82 trillion in 2024, the country still ranks as Africa’s fourth-largest economy, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In its latest report, Rebasing of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the NBS said:
“The rebased estimates with the new base year of 2019 indicate that the nominal GDP for Nigeria is much larger than previously estimated. In 2019, the rebased nominal GDP at market prices stood at ₦205.09 trillion… and ₦372.82 trillion in 2024.”

The GDP revision represents a 41.7% increase over previous nominal estimates—less than the 59.7% jump recorded during the 2010 rebasing. It also reflects expanded coverage of informal sectors, fintech, and creative industries.

Despite this, Nigeria remains behind South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria in GDP rankings. The World Bank earlier reported Nigeria’s GDP at $187.75 billion. With the rebased figure and a CBN exchange rate of ₦1,536.50/$1 as of December 31, 2024, Nigeria’s GDP now stands at $242.64 billion—still below Algeria’s $263.61 billion.

NBS noted that “crop production at 17.58% ranked highest among the top five economic activities using the 2019 base year… real estate (10.78%) ranked third, displacing crude oil and natural gas to the fifth position.”