*These rankings are computed on this site from three published columns — NBS land area, the gazetted 2006 census and the constitutional LGA count — rather than quoted from a secondary table, so any reader can re-derive them. Rankings that depend on unpublished or contested data (poverty headcount, IGR per capita, human-development index) are recorded under Budgets & GDP only where the underlying release exists.*
Where Delta State sits among the 36 states and the FCT#
- Land area — 23rd of 37 (17,698 km²)
- Population at the 2006 census — 12th of 37 (4,098,391)
- Population density — 13th of 37 (~232/km²)
- Local government areas — 9th of 37 (25 councils)
A caution about all state rankings#
Every per-capita ranking published about Nigerian states — revenue per head, doctors per head, poverty rate — divides a current number by a population nobody has counted since 2006. The numerator is usually sound; the denominator is a projection. Treat the order as indicative and the magnitudes as estimates.