Nigeria climbed four places to 62nd globally in StartupBlink’s Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026, marking its highest ranking since 2022. The country had slipped from 64th to 66th over the previous two years before recovering in 2026. The recovery came alongside 31.8% ecosystem growth, comfortably ahead of the 17.5% global average and the roughly 20% African average among top-ranked countries.
The improvement was enough to move Nigeria up one place to third in Africa, behind South Africa and Kenya, while maintaining its position as West Africa’s leading startup ecosystem. Nigeria also tops Africa in Ecosystem Value, at $20.0 billion, despite ranking third overall on the continent.
Five Nigerian cities rank among the world’s top 1,000, with four improving their positions this year.
The main weakness is the business environment.
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Kano grew 13.0% but fell 8 places globally and dropped three spots nationally, closing out the top ten with 0.7% of the national score. Owerri rose 119 places globally, climbing three spots nationally to 9th place with a score of 0.119. Abeokuta jumped 254 places globally, the largest global-rank gain among Nigerian cities this year, moving up five spots nationally into 8th place with 0.9% of the national score.
Benin City climbed 224 places globally on 127.4% growth, the second-fastest rate in the country, moving up three spots nationally to claim 7th place. Enugu rose 16 places to 714th globally on 35.5% growth, but slipped one spot nationally, to 5th.
Port Harcourt grew 81.5%, gaining 124 places to rank 679th globally. The growth also lifted it one spot nationally to 4th, overtaking Enugu, which held that position last year. Ibadan was the highest-ranked Nigerian city to decline this year, falling 40 places to 522nd globally.
Abuja rose 52 places to 347th globally on 57.1% growth — one of the strong performances among Nigeria’s major ecosystems. Lagos rose six places to 70th globally on 23.2% growth, holding its position as Africa’s highest-ranked startup city. Its score of 13.826 accounts for 78.2% of Nigeria’s total national score — 9.3 times the score of second-ranked Abuja.
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Lagos remains by far Nigeria’s largest startup hub, with 987 startups — roughly two-thirds of the 1,500 or so tracked across the country. The scale of Lagos’ startup base, combined with its concentration of high-value companies, gives the city a commanding lead over every other Nigerian ecosystem.
Some of the factors contributing to the growth of Nigeria’s startup ecosystem are similar to those seen in other emerging markets, where a combination of government support, investment in digital infrastructure, and a growing pool of skilled talent have helped to drive innovation and entrepreneurship.
They identify some notable ecosystem builders supporting Nigeria’s startup scene, spanning government institutions, state authorities, innovation hubs and investors.