Country · Africa
Chad
Republic of Chad
Chad is a country in Middle Africa. Its capital city is N'Djamena. About 15.5 million people live there, in an area of 1 284 000 square kilometres.
Picture credit: YACOUB DOUNGOUS (CC BY-SA 4.0) · YACOUB DOUNGOUS (CC BY-SA 4.0) · YACOUB DOUNGOUS (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Yacoub (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Chad?
Chad lies in Middle Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 670 km from the equator.
Chad is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 6 countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan.
How big is Chad?
Chad covers 1 284 000 square kilometres.
That is about 12 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 20th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 12.1 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Chad?
About 15.5 million people live in Chad.
That is the 71st biggest population in the world.
People here speak Arabic and French.
They pay with the Central African CFA franc (Fr).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 51 years.
The land of Chad
The land in Chad sits on average 543 metres above sea level.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 6 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Chad different?
Websites from here often end in .td.
Chad and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Chad.
It takes up about 0.96 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 5th largest of 54 countries, and the 24th most populated.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Chad and its neighbours
Sudan, its largest neighbour, is about 1.5 times bigger.
Sudan has more people: 41.8 million against 15.5 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 1 live wild in Chad: Dromedary.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Chad?
The capital of Chad is N'Djamena. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Chad?
About 15.5 million people live in Chad, which makes it the 71st most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Chad?
Chad borders Cameroon, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan — 6 neighbours in total.
How big is Chad?
Chad covers 1 284 000 square kilometres, making it the 20th largest country in the world. That is about 12 times the size of Iceland.
Which continent is Chad in?
Chad 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.
Last checked: · How these pages are made