Country · Africa
Libya
State of Libya
Libya is a country in Northern Africa. About 6.7 million people live there, in an area of 1 759 540 square kilometres. Its capital city is Tripoli.
Picture credit: Sanadalahlafi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · SamiAlshalwi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Dromedar61 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Daniel and Kate Pett (CC BY 2.0) · Cüneyt Türksen (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Libya?
Libya lies in Northern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 2 783 km from the equator.
It shares a border with 6 countries: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia.
How big is Libya?
Libya covers 1 759 540 square kilometres.
That is about 4.9 times the size of Germany.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 16th largest.
Spread everybody out evenly and you get about 3.8 people on every square kilometre.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Libya?
About 6.7 million people live in Libya.
That is the 107th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Arabic.
They pay with the Libyan dinar (ل.د).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 76 years.
The land of Libya
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Libya different?
Websites from here often end in .ly.
Libya and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Libya.
It takes up about 1.3 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa the country ranks 4th of 54 by size, and 35th by population.
Libya and its neighbours
Algeria, its largest neighbour, is about 1.4 times bigger.
Algeria has more people: 42.2 million against 6.7 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 2 live wild in Libya: Fennec fox and Crested porcupine. The highest mountain in the country is Bikku Bitti, at 2 267 metres. The country has no large natural lake; its largest body of water, Wadi Qattara 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 Libya compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 5.3 times as big as Libya: 9 372 610 km² against 1 759 540 km².
- Libya is about 7.2 times as big as the United Kingdom: 1 759 540 km² against 242 900 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Libya?
The capital of Libya is Tripoli. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Libya?
About 6.7 million people live in Libya, which makes it the 107th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Libya?
How big is Libya?
Libya covers 1 759 540 square kilometres, making it the 16th largest country in the world. That is about 4.9 times the size of Germany.
What is the highest mountain in Libya?
The highest mountain in Libya is Bikku Bitti, 2 267 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the largest lake in Libya?
The largest body of water in Libya is Wadi Qattara Reservoir, a reservoir of about 18 km²; there is no large natural lake in the country.
Are there rivers in Libya?
Libya 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 Libya in?
Libya is in Africa, in the part called Northern 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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