Country · Africa
Central African Republic
Central African Republic is a country in Middle Africa. Its capital city is Bangui. About 4.7 million people live there, in an area of 622 984 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Imoini22 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Kondotikodro (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Prunelle SCKIFIO (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Central African Republic?
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.
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, Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
How big is Central African Republic?
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.
Who lives in Central African Republic?
About 4.7 million people live in 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 Central African Republic
The land in Central African Republic sits on average 635 metres above sea level.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 6 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Central African Republic different?
Websites from here often end in .cf.
Central African Republic and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.6 live in Central African Republic.
It takes up about 0.47 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 19th largest of 54 countries, and the 39th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
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, 1 live wild in Central African Republic: Gorilla. The longest river is the Congo, running 4 700 km from source to mouth.
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
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Central African Republic?
The capital of Central African Republic is Bangui. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Central African Republic?
About 4.7 million people live in Central African Republic, which makes it the 124th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Central African Republic?
Central African Republic borders Cameroon, Chad, DR Congo, Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan — 6 neighbours in total.
How big is Central African Republic?
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.
Which continent is Central African Republic in?
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.
Last checked: · How these pages are made