Countries
Key facts
- Capital
- Nouakchott
- Region
- Africa, Western Africa
- Population
- 5,315,065 (2025)
- Area
- 1,030,700 km²
- Currency
- Mauritanian ouguiya (MRU)
- Languages
- Arabic, Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniyya
- Calling code
- +222
- Internet domain
- .mr
- ISO codes
- MR, MRT, 478
- Time zone
- UTC
- United Nations
- Member state
Land and position
Mauritania covers about 1,030,700 square kilometres. By area it ranks 30th among the 250 countries and territories on this site. It is a little smaller than Bolivia and a little larger than Egypt. It shares a land border with 4 neighbours: Algeria, Western Sahara, Mali, Senegal. Its centre lies at about 20° north, 12° west, in the northern hemisphere.
Neighbours
People
About 5.32 million people live in Mauritania (World Bank, 2025). That makes it the 126th most populous of the 246 places on this site with a figure. On average there are 5.2 people to each square kilometre. About 61 percent of people live in towns and cities (World Bank, 2025). A baby born there can expect to live about 69 years (World Bank, 2024). Languages listed for it: Arabic, Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniyya, Wolof. A person from Mauritania is called Mauritanian.
Money and economy
The currency is the Mauritanian ouguiya (code MRU, symbol UM). The World Bank puts the size of its economy (GDP) at about US$ 11.7 billion (2025), which is about US$ 2,198 for each person (2025).
Time
Mauritania uses one time zone, UTC (Africa/Nouakchott). Clocks stay the same all year: there is no daylight saving time.
Time now: loading
Offsets are for January 2026. See Time Zones for a converter.
Largest cities
| City | People |
|---|---|
| Nouakchott | 1,184,530 |
| Nouadhibou | 146,048 |
| Kiffa | 62,051 |
| Dar Naim | 61,089 |
| Néma | 60,000 |
| Mbera | 58,985 |
City figures are from GeoNames and count the city itself, not the wider urban area. They can be some years old, so use them to see the order of size.
More in Western Africa
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast. See the whole region.
Figures were collected on 11 November 2026 from the World Bank, GeoNames and the open countries data set. See About and data sources. Borders and names follow those sources and do not express any view on disputed territory.