Country · Africa
Ivory Coast
Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
The Ivory Coast is a country in Western Africa. About 25.1 million people live there, in an area of 322 463 square kilometres. Its capital city is Yamoussoukro.
Yamoussoukro is the official capital, but Abidjan is much bigger and most of the government offices work there.
Picture credit: HONORE BOSSON (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Ivory Coast?
The Ivory Coast lies in Western Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 891 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 515 km long.
It shares a border with 5 countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Mali.
How big is the Ivory Coast?
The Ivory Coast covers 322 463 square kilometres.
That is about 7.8 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 69th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 77.7 people on every square kilometre.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in the Ivory Coast?
About 25.1 million people live in the Ivory Coast.
That is the 54th biggest population in the world.
People here speak French.
They pay with the West African CFA franc (Fr).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 45 years.
The land of the Ivory Coast
The land of the Ivory Coast sits on average 250 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 515 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 26 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes the Ivory Coast different?
Dishes the country is known for: Fufu and Kedjenou.
Websites from here often end in .ci.
The Ivory Coast and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 3 live in the Ivory Coast.
It takes up about 0.24 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa the country ranks 28th of 54 by size, and 17th by population.
The Ivory Coast and its neighbours
Mali, its largest neighbour, is about 3.8 times bigger.
More people live in the Ivory Coast than in Mali — 25.1 million against 19.1 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 3 live wild in the Ivory Coast: Chimpanzee, Emperor scorpion and Ball python. The highest mountain in the country is Mount Richard-Molard (Mount Nimba), at 1 752 metres. The longest river in the country is the Bandama. The country has no large natural lake; its largest body of water, Lake Kossou, is a reservoir.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
How big is the Ivory Coast compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 29 times as big as the Ivory Coast: 9 372 610 km² against 322 463 km².
- The Ivory Coast is about 1.3 times as big as the United Kingdom: 322 463 km² against 242 900 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of the Ivory Coast?
The capital of the Ivory Coast is Yamoussoukro.
How many people live in the Ivory Coast?
About 25.1 million people live in the Ivory Coast, which makes it the 54th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border the Ivory Coast?
The Ivory Coast borders Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Mali — 5 neighbours in total.
How big is the Ivory Coast?
The Ivory Coast covers 322 463 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world. That is about 7.8 times the size of Switzerland.
What is the highest mountain in the Ivory Coast?
The highest mountain in the Ivory Coast is Mount Richard-Molard (Mount Nimba), 1 752 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in the Ivory Coast?
The longest river in the Ivory Coast is the Bandama, about 800 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in the Ivory Coast?
The largest body of water in the Ivory Coast is Lake Kossou, a reservoir of about 1 855 km²; there is no large natural lake in the country.
Which continent is the Ivory Coast in?
The Ivory Coast is in Africa, in the part called Western 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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