Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the southeast, with an Atlantic Ocean coastline to the west, covering 36,125 square kilometers, an area larger than Belgium. Bissau is its capital, and the population was estimated at 2,080,000 in 2023. The territory was once part of the Kaabu kingdom and the Mali Empire before Portuguese colonial rule began in the sixteenth century, and it became known as Portuguese Guinea by the nineteenth century; independence was declared in 1973 and formally recognized in 1974. Portuguese is the official language, though only about 2 percent speak it as a first language, while Guinea-Bissau Creole, spoken natively by 54 percent, functions as the national language and language of unity; the population practices Islam, 49.6 percent, Christianity, 37.8 percent, and traditional faiths, 6.4 percent. Guinea-Bissau is constitutionally a republic, though as of November 2025 it is governed by a military junta under Transitional President Horta Inta-a Na Man following a coup, with its memberships in ECOWAS and the African Union suspended as a result; the country has one of the world's lowest GDP per capita figures.