Country · Africa
Niger
Republic of Niger
Niger is a country in Western Africa. Its capital city is Niamey. About 22.4 million people live there, in an area of 1 267 000 square kilometres.
Picture credit: ABB-NE (CC BY-SA 4.0) · ABB-NE (CC BY-SA 4.0) · ABB-NE (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Roland Huziaker (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Ibrahimassoumane (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Niger?
Niger lies in Western Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 781 km from the equator.
Niger is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 7 countries: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali and Nigeria.
How big is Niger?
Niger covers 1 267 000 square kilometres.
That is about 12 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 21st largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 17.7 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Niger?
About 22.4 million people live in Niger.
That is the 56th 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 41 years.
The land of Niger
The land in Niger sits on average 474 metres above sea level.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 7 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Niger different?
Websites from here often end in .ne.
Niger and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 3 live in Niger.
It takes up about 0.95 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 6th largest of 54 countries, and the 18th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Niger and its neighbours
Algeria, its largest neighbour, is about 1.9 times bigger.
Algeria has more people: 42.2 million against 22.4 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 2 live wild in Niger: Giraffe and Dromedary. The longest river is the Niger, running 4 200 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 Niger?
The capital of Niger is Niamey. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Niger?
About 22.4 million people live in Niger, which makes it the 56th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Niger?
Niger borders Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali and Nigeria — 7 neighbours in total.
How big is Niger?
Niger covers 1 267 000 square kilometres, making it the 21st largest country in the world. That is about 12 times the size of Iceland.
Which continent is Niger in?
Niger 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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