According to the film Les Mairuuwas – Maitre de l'eau produced by the University of Tromsø,[citation needed] the population has rapidly risen to 1,000,000 (as of October 2016) owing to mass immigration from the Central African Republic and the perceived danger from Boko Haram in northern Cameroon.

The site of modern Ngaoundéré had previously been occupied by a Mbum capital, but the present city dates from around 1835, when it was founded by the Fulani leader Ardo Njobdi.

On July 29, 1915, the town was the scene of a skirmish between German and British troops during World War I's Kamerun campaign.

The Fulani have ruled the area since the foundation of Ngaoundere in approximately 1835 in conjunction with the Mbum, who are considered a protected people according to Islamic law.

The ruler is required to be descended from the ruling Fulani family on his father's side, extending back to the first Lamido of Ngaoundéré Ardo Njobdi of Boundang.

This is evident in the ironic dichotomy between the so-called Grand Marché, adjacent to the Grand Mosqué and housing mainly local merchants, and the much larger Petit Marché located to the northwest in a neighbourhood housing a population largely originating in the southern regions of Cameroon.

The city serves as an important communications hub, linking the south of Cameroon with the northern part of the country.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the airport had several flights a week to both Yaoundé and Douala in the south, Garoua in the north, and N'Djamena, Chad.