# Hausa People

> The Hausa are a predominantly Muslim people native to Hausaland in what is now north-western and north-eastern Nigeria and southern Niger. Estimates of their number vary widely, from roughly 50 million to more than 85 million depending on source and whether Hausa-speakers are counted alongside ethnic Hausa. They are one of Nigeria's three largest ethnic groups, historically organised into city-states later unified under the Sokoto Caliphate.

**Category:** People & Ethnicity · **Updated:** 2026-07-23 00:55:07 · **Canonical:** https://nigeriastuff.org/a/hausa-people

## Key facts
- **Core region:** Hausaland: north-western and north-eastern Nigeria, southern Niger
- **Population estimates:** c. 50–85 million (varies by source and whether L2 speakers are included)
- **Share of Nigeria's population:** No accepted ethnic census since 1963; recent estimates put Hausa alone at c. 25%
- **Language:** Hausa (Chadic, Afro-Asiatic) — see [[hausa-language]]
- **Historic states:** Hausa Bakwai (seven Hausa states), later the Sokoto Caliphate from 1809
- **Religion:** Predominantly Sunni Islam; a Maguzawa minority retains non-Islamic practice
- **Traditional political unit:** Emirate, headed by an emir

## Sources
- Hausa people — EBSCO Research Starters (Mark Dziak, 2023) (https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/ethnic-and-cultural-studies/hausa-people)
- Nigeria: Usman dan Fodio and the Sokoto Caliphate — Library of Congress Country Studies (Federal Research Division) (https://countrystudies.us/nigeria/9.htm)
- The Beautiful History of the Durbar Festival — Come to Nigeria (https://www.cometonigeria.com/adventure/the-history-of-the-durbar-festival/)
- In the News: The Nigerian Census — Population Reference Bureau (https://www.prb.org/resource/in-the-news-the-nigerian-census/)
- Largest Ethnic Groups In Nigeria — WorldAtlas (https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-ethnic-groups-in-nigeria.html)
- History of Population Census in Nigeria — WithinNigeria (https://www.withinnigeria.com/piece/2024/08/24/history-of-population-census-in-nigeria/)

_NigeriaStuff.org — free encyclopedic reference on Nigeria. Full article at the canonical URL above._