There are 54 countries in Africa.

Algeria is the largest country by land area; and by population, Nigeria is the largest.

There are also two additional states whose independence is beneath dispute: Western Sahara and Somaliland.

Africa has the second-largest population in the world, with an estimated 1 billion inhabitants. This constitutes almost 15% of the world’s population (2009 census).

Over 1 000 official languages are spoken across the African continent; and the largest religious group is Islam, followed by Christianity.

Countries of Africa

1. Algeria
2. Angola
3. Benin
4. Botswana
5. Burkina Faso
6. Burundi
7. Cameroon
8. Cape Verde
9. The central African Republic
10. Chad
11. Comoros
12. The Democratic Republic of the Congo
13. Republic of the Congo
14. Djibouti
15. Egypt
16. Equatorial Guinea
17. Eritrea
18. Ethiopia
19. Gabon
20. The Gambia
21. Ghana
22. Guinea
23. Guinea-Bissau
24. Ivory Coast
25. Kenya
26. Lesotho
27. Liberia
28. Libya
29. Madagascar
30. Malawi
31. Mali
32. Mauritania
33. Mauritius
34. Morocco
35. Mozambique
36. Namibia
37. Niger
38. Nigeria
39. Rwanda
40. Sao Tome and Principe
41. Senegal
42. Seychelles
43. Sierra Leone
44. Somalia
45. South Africa
46. South Sudan
47. Sudan
48. Swaziland
49. Tanzania
50. Togo
51. Tunisia
52. Uganda
53. Zambia
54. Zimbabwe

Why Western Sahara is not an African country?

Previously the Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara, Western Sahara is a disputed territory that has been claimed by each the kingdom of Morocco and the popular the front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario the front). The latter is an impartial movement based in Algeria.

Western Sahara is listed with the aid of the United countries (UN) as a non-decolonised territory and is as a result covered in the United nations listing of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Why Somaliland is not an African country?

Officially referred to as the Republic of Somaliland, it's far a self-declared nation and acknowledged internationally as a self-reliant region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself because the successor country to the previous British Somaliland protectorate which, after a quick independence duration, united with the considered Territory of Somaliland (formerly Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.

The disputed territory is ruled through democratically-elected authorities that self-pronounce its independence. but, Somaliland isn't always known by means of any u. s . a . or international company as an unbiased u. s . a . of Africa.

How big is Africa?

Africa is the second-largest continent inside the globe in phrases of land area and populace. Africa covers a landmass of over three million rectangular kilometers (eleven.7 square miles), which incorporates unbiased island states.

Africa is separated from Europe with the aid of the Mediterranean Sea and joined with Asia with the aid of the Isthmus of Suez. that is a 120 kilometer (75 miles) strip of land which lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the pink Sea. The Suez Rift runs under the Isthmus of Suez which divides mainland Egypt and Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.

Africa is surrounded by using the crimson Sea and the Suez Canal within the northeast, the warm Indian Ocean to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the icy cold Atlantic Ocean to the west.

the space from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas to the northernmost tip at Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia is about 8 050 kilometers (5 000 miles). the distance between the most easterly point at Ras fun in Somalia and the maximum westerly factor in Cape Verde is approximately 7 four hundred kilometres (four 600 miles).

Africa straddles the Equator which passes via 6 international locations: Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia.

 Largest countries in Africa by land area(eastern Africa, western Africa, Middle Africa)

The Top 5 largest countries in Africa by land area are:

1. Algeria: covers 6% of the Earth’s total surface area; the largest country in Africa and the 10th largest in the world

1. The Democratic Republic of the Congo: landlocked country in Central Africa; larger than the combined land area of Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, and Spain

1. Sudan: in North Africa, sharing a coastal border with the Red Sea

1. Libya: in North Africa, sharing a coastal border with the Mediterranean Sea

1. Chad: landlocked country in North-Central Africa