GDP Rankings: Real estate overtakes oil sector with new rebasing format

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.13 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the first quarter of 2025, according to a fresh report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This marks a significant leap from the 2.27 per cent growth recorded during the same period in 2024.

The NBS, in its Q1 2025 GDP report released Monday, July 21, attributed the growth to robust performances in the services and industrial sectors.

“This growth rate is higher than the 2.27 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2024,” the Bureau noted.

Coinciding with the release, Nigeria’s GDP has been officially rebased to 2019, lifting the total nominal value of the economy to ₦205.09 trillion, a 41.1 percent rise from the previous base-year estimate of 2010.

Statistician General of the Federation, Adeyemi Adeniran, explained that the rebasing exercise, which now covers data from 2019 to 2023, better reflects the country’s current economic structure.

“In nominal terms, Nigeria’s economy was estimated at ₦205.09 trillion in 2019, up from the previous base year value by over 41 per cent,” Adeniran stated.

He revealed that total output steadily rose post-2019, reaching ₦372.82 trillion in 2024. Real GDP growth also rebounded strongly after the pandemic, rising from -6.96 per cent in 2020 to 4.32 per cent in 2022 and 3.38 per cent in 2024.

The rebasing has reshuffled Nigeria’s top economic drivers' rankings.

“Crop Production led with 17.58 per cent, followed by trade (17.42%), real estate (10.78%), telecommunications (6.78%), and crude petroleum and natural gas (5.85%),” Adeniran said.

Real estate’s new position ahead of oil and gas is due to expanded coverage of informal activities.

The rebasing also revealed the substantial size of the informal sector, valued at ₦86.85 trillion in 2019, or 42.5 percent of GDP—more than double the 2015 estimate.

Sectorally, services contributed the largest share to GDP in 2019, at 53.09 percent, followed by agriculture at 25.83 percent, and industries at 21.08 percent.

“The rebased figures provide a more accurate and comprehensive picture of Nigeria’s economy,” Adeniran concluded.