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Countries of Africa

Africa is the second largest continent by both area and population. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the south, and the equator runs through its middle. It has more countries than any other continent.

The region in numbers

This region has 59 entries on this site, of which 54 are member states of the United Nations. Together they hold about 1.55 billion people, roughly 19 percent of the world total, on about 30.4 million square kilometres of land. Nigeria has the most people (about 238 million). Algeria is the largest by area (2,381,740 km²), and Seychelles is the smallest member state (455 km²). 16 of its member states are landlocked: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Eastern Africa

Middle Africa

Northern Africa

Southern Africa

Western Africa

The sub-regions compared

Sub-regionEntriesPeopleShare of the regionMost people
Eastern Africa20501 million32%Ethiopia
Western Africa17465 million30%Nigeria
Northern Africa7276 million18%Egypt
Middle Africa10232 million15%DR Congo
Southern Africa574 million5%South Africa

Rich and poor, crowded and empty

By GDP per person among member states, the highest figures in the data are Seychelles ($19,400), Mauritius ($13,000), Gabon ($8,300), and the lowest are Burundi ($230), Central African Republic ($560), Madagascar ($600). A baby can expect the longest life in Tunisia (76.7 years) and the shortest in Nigeria (54.6 years), a gap of 22 years inside one region. The most crowded member state is Mauritius, with about 610 people to each square kilometre, and the emptiest is Namibia, with about 3.7. Figures are World Bank values for the year shown on each country page.

Borders, languages, money and time

DR Congo has the most land neighbours in the region, 9 of them. 6 member states have no land border in the data, being islands or groups of islands: Cape Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, São Tomé and Príncipe. The languages listed for the most places here are French (28), English (27), Arabic (15), Portuguese (6). The most widely shared money is the West African CFA franc, the main currency of 8 entries. Clocks in the region run from UTC-1:00 to UTC+6:00, a spread of 7 hours.

Compare the countries of Africa

CountryCapitalRegionPopulationArea km²People per km²GDP per person US$
AlgeriaAlgiersAfrica47,435,3122,381,740206,051
AngolaLuandaAfrica39,040,0391,246,700313,129
BeninPorto-NovoAfrica14,814,460112,6201321,658
BotswanaGaboroneAfrica2,562,122600,3704.37,778
British Indian Ocean TerritoryDiego GarciaAfrica4,0006067no value
Burkina FasoOuagadougouAfrica24,074,580274,200881,148
BurundiGitegaAfrica14,390,00327,830517234
CameroonYaoundéAfrica29,879,337475,440631,972
Cape VerdePraiaAfrica527,3264,0331315,796
Central African RepublicBanguiAfrica5,513,282622,9848.8556
ChadN'DjamenaAfrica21,003,7051,284,000161,022
ComorosMoroniAfrica882,8472,1704072,056
CongoBrazzavilleAfrica6,484,437342,000192,515
DR CongoKinshasaAfrica112,832,4732,345,41048807
DjiboutiDjiboutiAfrica1,184,07623,000513,906
EgyptCairoAfrica118,365,9951,001,4501183,086
Equatorial GuineaCiudad de la PazAfrica1,938,43128,051696,615
EritreaAsmaraAfrica3,607,003121,32030689
EswatiniLobambaAfrica1,256,17417,363724,108
EthiopiaAddis AbabaAfrica135,472,0511,127,127120933
GabonLibrevilleAfrica2,593,130267,6679.78,263
GambiaBanjulAfrica2,822,09311,300250919
GhanaAccraAfrica35,064,272239,4601463,257
GuineaConakryAfrica15,099,727245,857611,877
Guinea-BissauBissauAfrica2,249,51536,120621,124
Ivory CoastYamoussoukroAfrica32,711,547322,4601013,050
KenyaNairobiAfrica57,532,493582,650992,363
LesothoMaseruAfrica2,363,32530,355781,089
LiberiaMonroviaAfrica5,731,206111,37051915
LibyaTripoliAfrica7,458,5551,759,5404.26,449
MadagascarAntananarivoAfrica32,740,678587,04056599
MalawiLilongweAfrica22,216,120118,480188672
MaliBamakoAfrica25,198,8211,240,000201,193
MauritaniaNouakchottAfrica5,315,0651,030,7005.22,198
MauritiusPort LouisAfrica1,243,7412,04061012,991
MayotteMamoudzouAfrica279,471374747no value
MoroccoRabatAfrica38,430,770446,550864,672
MozambiqueMaputoAfrica35,631,653801,59044627
NamibiaWindhoekAfrica3,092,816825,4183.74,876
NigerNiameyAfrica27,917,8311,267,00022775
NigeriaAbujaAfrica237,527,782923,7682571,224
RwandaKigaliAfrica14,569,34126,3385531,124
RéunionSaint-DenisAfrica776,9482,517309no value
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaJamestownAfrica7,46041018no value
SenegalDakarAfrica18,931,966196,190961,955
SeychellesVictoriaAfrica122,73045527019,449
Sierra LeoneFreetownAfrica8,819,79471,740123846
SomaliaMogadishuAfrica19,654,739637,65731661
South AfricaPretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape TownAfrica64,747,3191,219,912536,598
South SudanJubaAfrica12,188,788644,329191,080
SudanKhartoumAfrica51,662,1471,861,484281,165
São Tomé and PríncipeSão ToméAfrica240,2541,0012404,084
TanzaniaDodomaAfrica70,545,865945,087751,319
TogoLoméAfrica8,591,62656,7851511,384
TunisiaTunisAfrica12,348,573163,610754,657
UgandaKampalaAfrica51,384,894236,0402181,206
Western SaharaEl AaiúnAfrica273,008266,0001.0no value
ZambiaLusakaAfrica21,913,874752,614291,318
ZimbabweHarareAfrica16,950,795390,580433,021