Country · Africa
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic is a country in Middle Africa. About 4.7 million people live there, in an area of 622 984 square kilometres. Its capital city is Bangui.
Picture credit: Kondotikodro (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Central African Republic?
The Central African Republic lies in Middle Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 779 km from the equator.
The Central African Republic is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 6 countries: Cameroon, Chad, DR Congo, the Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
How big is the Central African Republic?
The Central African Republic covers 622 984 square kilometres.
That is about 6 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 42nd largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 7.5 people on every square kilometre.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in the Central African Republic?
About 4.7 million people live in the Central African Republic.
That is the 124th biggest population in the world.
People here speak French and Sango.
They pay with the Central African CFA franc (Fr).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 44 years.
The land of the Central African Republic
The land of the Central African Republic sits on average 635 metres above sea level.
Because it is landlocked, anything that comes by ship has to cross one of its 6 neighbours to get here.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes the Central African Republic different?
Websites from here often end in .cf.
The Central African Republic and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in the Central African Republic.
It takes up about 0.47 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa the country ranks 19th of 54 by size, and 39th by population.
The Central African Republic and its neighbours
DR Congo, its largest neighbour, is about 3.8 times bigger.
DR Congo has more people: 84.1 million against 4.7 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, one lives wild in the Central African Republic: Gorilla. The highest mountain in the country is Mont Ngaoui, at 1 410 metres. The longest river in the country is the Ubangi. The country has no large natural lake; its largest body of water, Mbali Reservoir, is a reservoir.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is the Central African Republic compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 15 times as big as the Central African Republic: 9 372 610 km² against 622 984 km².
- The Central African Republic is about 2.6 times as big as the United Kingdom: 622 984 km² against 242 900 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of the Central African Republic?
The capital of the Central African Republic is Bangui. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in the Central African Republic?
About 4.7 million people live in the Central African Republic, which makes it the 124th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border the Central African Republic?
How big is the Central African Republic?
The Central African Republic covers 622 984 square kilometres, making it the 42nd largest country in the world. That is about 6 times the size of Iceland.
What is the highest mountain in the Central African Republic?
The highest mountain in the Central African Republic is Mont Ngaoui, 1 410 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in the Central African Republic?
The longest river in the Central African Republic is the Ubangi, about 1 060 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in the Central African Republic?
The largest body of water in the Central African Republic is Mbali Reservoir, a reservoir of about 42 km²; there is no large natural lake in the country.
Which continent is the Central African Republic in?
The Central African Republic is in Africa, in the part called Middle Africa.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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