Country · Africa
Djibouti
Republic of Djibouti
Djibouti is a country in Eastern Africa. About 959 000 people live there, in an area of 23 200 square kilometres. Its capital city is Djibouti.
Picture credit: Cjulien21 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Cjulien21 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Cjulien21 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Francisco Anzola (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Djibouti?
Djibouti lies in Eastern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 280 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 314 km long.
It shares a border with 3 countries: Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.
How big is Djibouti?
Djibouti covers 23 200 square kilometres.
That is about 9 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 146th largest.
Spread everybody out evenly and you get about 41.3 people on every square kilometre.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Djibouti?
About 959 000 people live in Djibouti.
That is the 156th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Arabic and French.
They pay with the Djiboutian franc (Fr).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 51 years.
The land of Djibouti
The land of Djibouti sits on average 430 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 314 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 16 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Djibouti different?
Websites from here often end in .dj.
Djibouti and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Djibouti.
It takes up about 0.02 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa the country ranks 47th of 54 by size, and 50th by population.
Djibouti and its neighbours
Ethiopia, its largest neighbour, is about 47.6 times bigger.
Ethiopia has more people: 109.2 million against 959 000.
Nature and animals
The highest mountain in the country is Mousa Ali, at 2 021 metres. The largest lake in the country is Lake Abbe.
How big is Djibouti compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 404 times as big as Djibouti: 9 372 610 km² against 23 200 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 10 times as big as Djibouti: 242 900 km² against 23 200 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Djibouti?
The capital of Djibouti is Djibouti. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Djibouti?
About 959 000 people live in Djibouti, which makes it the 156th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Djibouti?
How big is Djibouti?
Djibouti covers 23 200 square kilometres, making it the 146th largest country in the world. That is about 9 times the size of Luxembourg.
What is the highest mountain in Djibouti?
The highest mountain in Djibouti is Mousa Ali, 2 021 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the largest lake in Djibouti?
The largest lake in Djibouti is Lake Abbe. The whole lake covers about 320 km², and part of it belongs to neighbouring countries.
Are there rivers in Djibouti?
Djibouti has no permanent river. Rain runs off in dry valleys that fill only after a downpour, so the water comes from wells, springs or desalination plants.
Which continent is Djibouti in?
Djibouti is in Africa, in the part called Eastern 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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