Population

1,703,358 (National Population Commission, official figure). This is the only counted number on this page. It is 1.21% of the 2006 national total of 140,431,790.

≈ 2,846,120 (estimate, not a count). The National Bureau of Statistics uses an annual growth rate of 2.6% for Nigeria; applied to the 2006 base over 20 years it gives a multiplier of 1.671× and an implied 2026 national population of ≈ 234,645,725. The state-level number is 2006 × 1.671. It assumes Bayelsa State has grown at the same rate as the country, which is rarely true (oil-producing, conflict-affected, and capital states grow faster than average; some North-East states grew slower or contracted after 2009).

National total (mid-2025): 122,000,000 NINs issued. The National Identity Management Commission does not publish a state-level breakdown systematically. Applying the state's 2006 share (1.21%) gives a *proportional estimate* of ≈ 1,479,791 NINs in Bayelsa State. Because NIN registration trails actual population (children under 5, the very elderly, and remote rural communities are under-enrolled), this is a floor.

National total (2025): 220,000,000 active subscriptions across the four GSM operators; 120,000,000 unique subscribers per GSMA (most Nigerians carry two SIMs). Applying the state's 2006 share to the *unique* figure gives ≈ 1,455,532 unique mobile users in Bayelsa State (and ≈ 2,668,475 active lines). NCC publishes operator and zonal totals but not state-by-state subscriber counts.

National total (end-2024): 64,000,000 unique BVNs. Applying the state's 2006 share gives ≈ 776,284 banked adults in Bayelsa State. This is the most reliable *floor* on the banked-adult population, but it under-counts the unbanked rural population and over-counts the urban states where migrants register their BVN to a Lagos / Abuja address.

National total (2024 release): ≈ 218,000,000. [GRID3](https://grid3.org) (the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data project, UNFPA-funded) publishes 100 m × 100 m population grids derived from satellite-built-up-area + the 2006 census + microcensuses + WorldPop's modelling. Used by the polio-eradication and vaccination programmes; the closest thing Nigeria has to a current observed count. The proportional estimate for Bayelsa State is ≈ 2,644,216, but GRID3 publishes state-level numbers directly — they typically run 5–10% above the simple NPC projection because the satellite-built-up footprint has expanded faster than the census assumed.

If you want one number, use the GRID3 / NPC projection range — they are the most defensible estimates. If you want the truth, hold all five numbers together and remember that only the 2006 figure is a count. The next census, repeatedly postponed since 2018, would replace all of this with a single observation; until then the [population question](/stories/the-population-question) is itself one of the unresolved governance questions of the Fourth Republic.