How Many Countries Are in Africa? (2026)
Africa has 54 countries, counting UN member states, which makes it the continent with the most countries in the world. That’s more than a quarter of the global total of 193. The count is unusually stable and unusually clean; Africa’s complications are fewer than Asia’s or Europe’s, but the ones it has are worth knowing.
| Country | Capital | Population |
|---|---|---|
 Algeria | Algiers | 47,400,000 |
 Angola | Luanda | 39,000,000 |
 Benin | Porto-Novo | 14,800,000 |
 Botswana | Gaborone | 2,560,000 |
 Burkina Faso | Ouagadougou | 24,100,000 |
 Burundi | Gitega | 14,400,000 |
 Cameroon | Yaoundé | 29,900,000 |
 Cape Verde | Praia | 527,000 |
 Central African Republic | Bangui | 5,510,000 |
 Chad | N'Djamena | 21,000,000 |
 Comoros | Moroni | 883,000 |
 Djibouti | Djibouti | 1,180,000 |
 DR Congo | Kinshasa | 112,800,000 |
 Egypt | Cairo | 118,400,000 |
 Equatorial Guinea | Malabo | 1,940,000 |
 Eritrea | Asmara | 3,610,000 |
 Eswatini | Mbabane, Lobamba | 1,260,000 |
 Ethiopia | Addis Ababa | 135,500,000 |
 Gabon | Libreville | 2,590,000 |
 Gambia | Banjul | 2,820,000 |
 Ghana | Accra | 35,100,000 |
 Guinea | Conakry | 15,100,000 |
 Guinea-Bissau | Bissau | 2,250,000 |
 Ivory Coast | Yamoussoukro | 32,700,000 |
 Kenya | Nairobi | 57,500,000 |
 Lesotho | Maseru | 2,360,000 |
 Liberia | Monrovia | 5,730,000 |
 Libya | Tripoli | 7,460,000 |
 Madagascar | Antananarivo | 32,700,000 |
 Malawi | Lilongwe | 22,200,000 |
 Mali | Bamako | 25,200,000 |
 Mauritania | Nouakchott | 5,320,000 |
 Mauritius | Port Louis | 1,240,000 |
 Morocco | Rabat | 38,400,000 |
 Mozambique | Maputo | 35,600,000 |
 Namibia | Windhoek | 3,090,000 |
 Niger | Niamey | 27,900,000 |
 Nigeria | Abuja | 237,500,000 |
 Republic of the Congo | Brazzaville | 6,480,000 |
 Rwanda | Kigali | 14,600,000 |
 São Tomé and Príncipe | São Tomé | 240,000 |
 Senegal | Dakar | 18,900,000 |
 Seychelles | Victoria | 123,000 |
 Sierra Leone | Freetown | 8,820,000 |
 Somalia | Mogadishu | 19,700,000 |
 South Africa | Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town | 64,700,000 |
 South Sudan | Juba | 12,200,000 |
 Sudan | Khartoum | 51,700,000 |
 Tanzania | Dodoma | 70,500,000 |
 Togo | Lomé | 8,590,000 |
 Tunisia | Tunis | 12,300,000 |
 Uganda | Kampala | 51,400,000 |
 Zambia | Lusaka | 21,900,000 |
 Zimbabwe | Harare | 17,000,000 |
What the 54 includes
Everything from the Mediterranean coast to the Cape, plus the island nations that people forget are African: Madagascar (the big one), Mauritius, the Seychelles, the Comoros, Cabo Verde off the west coast, and São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea. The newest member of the list is South Sudan, which split from Sudan in 2011 and became the world’s newest country, joining the UN days after independence.
The spread is worth pausing on. Africa’s 54 ranges from Algeria, the continent’s largest country by area at 2,381,741 km², down to the Seychelles’ scattered islands at 452 km². Nigeria alone holds 237,500,000 people, more than the smallest dozen African states combined.
The edge cases
Egypt is the continent’s transcontinental country: the Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, is geographically part of Asia. Egypt still counts as African in every standard scheme, including the UN’s, because the overwhelming majority of its land and people are in Africa. Quizzes agree; you’ll never lose a point for calling Egypt African.
Western Sahara is the map’s awkward blank. Morocco controls most of the territory and claims all of it; a rival government claims independence; the UN classifies it as a non-self-governing territory. It’s not a UN member, so it isn’t part of the 54 count, but some maps shade it separately, which is why two atlases can disagree about Africa at a glance.
Somaliland has governed itself since 1991, with elections, a currency, and borders, and exactly zero UN members recognizing it. It’s counted as part of Somalia in every official tally. It’s also the standard example in the “what makes a country a country” argument, which the how many countries are there page takes on properly.
Réunion and Mayotte, islands near Madagascar, look like they should be countries and are actually parts of France, complete with the euro. Territories like these never count.
Why the count matters for quizzing
54 countries is the biggest single-continent load on any world quiz, and the continent where most players’ knowledge is thinnest, a gap with colonial-era roots that Western curricula never repaired. That combination makes Africa the highest-value study target on this site. The Africa map quiz places all 54, the Africa capitals quiz adds the cities, and the Africa flag quiz finishes the sweep.
Frequently asked questions
Is Africa the continent with the most countries?
Yes. Africa’s 54 leads Asia’s 46 and Europe’s 44. On any full world quiz, African questions outnumber those from every other continent, which is the practical reason Africa knowledge separates good scores from great ones.
Is Egypt in Africa or Asia?
Africa, in every standard classification, even though its Sinai Peninsula lies geographically in Asia. Egypt is a transcontinental country with its capital, most of its territory, and nearly all its population on the African side. Quiz answer: Africa, always.
Why do some sources say 55 African countries?
Usually because they’re counting African Union membership, which includes the disputed Western Sahara, or adding a partially recognized state. UN membership gives 54, and that’s the number this site uses everywhere, from quizzes to reference lists.
What’s the newest African country?
South Sudan, independent from Sudan since July 2011 after decades of civil war and a referendum. It was the most recent addition to the UN worldwide, not just in Africa, which makes it a reliable trivia answer in the geography trivia rotation.