Central African Republic

The Central African Republic is a landlocked country in Central Africa bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest and Cameroon to the west, covering approximately 620,000 square kilometers of Sudano-Guinean savanna, Sahelo-Sudanian zones in the north and equatorial forest in the south; two-thirds of its territory lies in the Ubangi River basin, a tributary of the Congo, and the remaining third in the Chari River basin, which flows into Lake Chad. Bangui, on the southern border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the capital and largest city, and the population was about 5.36 million in 2024, drawn from roughly 80 distinct ethnic groups and predominantly Christian, with Muslim and traditional-faith minorities. Formerly the French colony of Ubangi-Shari, the territory gained independence on 13 August 1960, and from 1976 to 1979 was briefly renamed the Central African Empire under Emperor Bokassa I. The Central African Republic is a unitary presidential republic, led by President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who took office in 2016, with Sango as the national language alongside French; it remains among the world's ten poorest countries and ranked 191st of 193 countries on the Human Development Index as of 2023.