Northern Bahr el Ghazal (Arabic: ولاية شمال بحر الغزال) is a state in South Sudan.

Because of its proximity to Kordofan and the presence of a railway line through it to Wau, it suffered extensively in the 1983–2005 civil war in southern Sudan.

It had the highest rate of poverty, 76% according to government statistics, of the 10 states of South Sudan.

On 22 January 2020, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, along with the rest of the original ten states of South Sudan, was re-established at the conclusion of a peace agreement resolving the South Sudanese Civil War.

Annual floods are common throughout Northern Bahr el Ghazal, affecting residential areas.

In 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations announced a project to develop multi-purpose water infrastructure in Koum.