Northern Nigeria: 19 States

The Northern region of Nigeria comprises 19 states (out of 36 total):

1. Bauchi
2. Benue
3. Borno
4. Gombe
5. Jigawa
6. Kaduna
7. Kano
8. Katsina
9. Kebbi
10. Kogi
11. Kwara
12. Nasarawa
13. Niger
14. Plateau
15. Sokoto
16. Taraba
17. Yobe
18. Zamfara

Note: Some classifications include FCT (Abuja) as northern. The 19 states cover ~70% of land area; diverse ethnicities (Hausa-Fulani, Kanuri, Tiv, Berom, Nupe, etc.), predominantly Muslim north, mixed/ Christian middle belt.