Country · Africa
Sierra Leone
Republic of Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is a country in Western Africa. About 7.7 million people live there, in an area of 71 740 square kilometres. Its capital city is Freetown.
Picture credit: LindsayStark (CC BY 2.0) · John Atherton (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Ghassan Mroue (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Development Planning Unit University College London (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Sierra Leone?
Sierra Leone lies in Western Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 946 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 402 km long.
It shares a border with 2 countries: Guinea and Liberia.
How big is Sierra Leone?
Sierra Leone covers 71 740 square kilometres.
That is about 28 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 117th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 106.6 people on every square kilometre.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Sierra Leone?
About 7.7 million people live in Sierra Leone.
That is the 101st biggest population in the world.
People here speak English.
They pay with the Sierra Leonean leone (Le).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 45 years.
The land of Sierra Leone
The land of Sierra Leone sits on average 279 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 402 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 20 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Sierra Leone different?
Websites from here often end in .sl.
Sierra Leone and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Sierra Leone.
It takes up about 0.05 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa the country ranks 40th of 54 by size, and 34th by population.
Sierra Leone and its neighbours
Guinea, its largest neighbour, is about 3.4 times bigger.
Guinea has more people: 12.4 million against 7.7 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, one lives wild in Sierra Leone: Emperor scorpion. The highest mountain in the country is Mount Bintumani (Loma Mansa), at 1 945 metres. The longest river in the country is the Rokel River. The largest lake in the country is Lake Sonfon.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
How big is Sierra Leone compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 131 times as big as Sierra Leone: 9 372 610 km² against 71 740 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 3.4 times as big as Sierra Leone: 242 900 km² against 71 740 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Sierra Leone?
The capital of Sierra Leone is Freetown. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Sierra Leone?
About 7.7 million people live in Sierra Leone, which makes it the 101st most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Sierra Leone?
How big is Sierra Leone?
Sierra Leone covers 71 740 square kilometres, making it the 117th largest country in the world. That is about 28 times the size of Luxembourg.
What is the highest mountain in Sierra Leone?
The highest mountain in Sierra Leone is Mount Bintumani (Loma Mansa), 1 945 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in Sierra Leone?
The longest river in Sierra Leone is the Rokel River, about 386 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in Sierra Leone?
The largest lake in Sierra Leone is Lake Sonfon. It covers about 8 km².
Which continent is Sierra Leone in?
Sierra Leone 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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