Country · Americas
Belize
Belize is a country in Central America. Its capital city is Belmopan. About 383 thousand people live there, in an area of 22 966 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Pitxiquin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Laika ac (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Pitxiquin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Josh Gross (CC BY 2.0) · Asdfjrjjj (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Belize?
Belize lies in Central America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 920 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 386 km long.
It shares a border with 2 countries: Guatemala and Mexico.
How big is Belize?
Belize covers 22 966 square kilometres.
That is about 8.9 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 147th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 16.7 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Belize?
About 383 thousand people live in Belize.
That is the 170th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Belizean Creole, English and Spanish.
They pay with the Belize dollar ($).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 71 years.
The land of Belize
The land in Belize sits on average 173 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Its coast runs for about 386 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 19 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Belize different?
A dish the country is known for: Boil up.
Websites from here often end in .bz.
Belize and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.1 live in Belize.
It takes up about 0.02 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas it is the 24th largest of 35 countries, and the 28th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Belize and its neighbours
Mexico, its largest neighbour, is about 85.5 times bigger.
Mexico has more people: 126.2 million against 383 thousand.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 3 live wild in Belize: Ruby-throated hummingbird, Manatee and Lined seahorse.
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 Belize?
The capital of Belize is Belmopan. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Belize?
About 383 thousand people live in Belize, which makes it the 170th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Belize?
Belize borders Guatemala and Mexico — 2 neighbours in total.
How big is Belize?
Belize covers 22 966 square kilometres, making it the 147th largest country in the world. That is about 8.9 times the size of Luxembourg.
Which continent is Belize in?
Belize 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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