Country · Americas
Panama
Republic of Panama
Panama is a country in Central America. Its capital city is Panama City. About 4.2 million people live there, in an area of 75 417 square kilometres.
Picture credit: FranHogan (CC BY-SA 4.0) · FranHogan (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Dozenist (CC BY-SA 3.0) · JAVR2020 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Virpana (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Panama?
Panama lies in Central America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 002 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 2 490 km long.
It shares a border with 2 countries: Colombia and Costa Rica.
How big is Panama?
Panama covers 75 417 square kilometres.
That is about 29 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 116th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 55.4 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Panama?
About 4.2 million people live in Panama.
That is the 126th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Spanish.
They pay with the Panamanian balboa (B/.).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 76 years.
The land of Panama
The land in Panama sits on average 360 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 2 490 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 125 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Panama different?
A dish the country is known for: Sancocho de gallina.
Websites from here often end in .pa.
Panama and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.6 live in Panama.
It takes up about 0.06 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas it is the 20th largest of 35 countries, and the 21st most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Panama and its neighbours
Colombia, its largest neighbour, is about 15.1 times bigger.
Colombia has more people: 49.6 million against 4.2 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 4 live wild in Panama: Brown-throated sloth, Ruby-throated hummingbird, Green iguana and Red-eyed tree frog.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Panama?
The capital of Panama is Panama City. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Panama?
About 4.2 million people live in Panama, which makes it the 126th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Panama?
Panama borders Colombia and Costa Rica — 2 neighbours in total.
How big is Panama?
Panama covers 75 417 square kilometres, making it the 116th largest country in the world. That is about 29 times the size of Luxembourg.
Which continent is Panama in?
Panama is in Americas, in the part called Central America.
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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