Country · Africa
Cameroon
Republic of Cameroon
Cameroon is a country in Middle Africa. Its capital city is Yaoundé. About 25.2 million people live there, in an area of 475 442 square kilometres.
Picture credit: TEUGUIA Fabrice (CC BY-SA 4.0) · A.R. Etoyiva (CC BY-SA 4.0) · JEUDONG KENFACK Guy (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bdx (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Frederic PAPY (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Cameroon?
Cameroon lies in Middle Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 668 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 402 km long.
It shares a border with 6 countries: Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Nigeria.
How big is Cameroon?
Cameroon covers 475 442 square kilometres.
That is about 12 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 53rd largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 53 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Cameroon?
About 25.2 million people live in Cameroon.
That is the 53rd biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and French.
They pay with the Central African CFA franc (Fr).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 55 years.
The land of Cameroon
The land in Cameroon sits on average 667 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 402 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 20 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Cameroon different?
A dish the country is known for: Ndolé.
Websites from here often end in .cm.
Cameroon and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 3 live in Cameroon.
It takes up about 0.36 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 24th largest of 54 countries, and the 16th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Cameroon and its neighbours
Chad, its largest neighbour, is about 2.7 times bigger.
More people live in Cameroon than in Chad — 25.2 million against 15.5 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 2 live wild in Cameroon: Gorilla and Chimpanzee. The longest river is the Congo, running 4 700 km from source to mouth.
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 Cameroon?
The capital of Cameroon is Yaoundé. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Cameroon?
About 25.2 million people live in Cameroon, which makes it the 53rd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Cameroon?
Cameroon borders Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Nigeria — 6 neighbours in total.
How big is Cameroon?
Cameroon covers 475 442 square kilometres, making it the 53rd largest country in the world. That is about 12 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Cameroon in?
Cameroon is in Africa, in the part called Middle Africa.
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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