Geography Quiz Arcade

Guinea-Bissau 🇬🇼

Guinea-Bissau is a country in Africa with a population of 2,105,566. Its capital is Bissau. The official currency is XOF, and the main languages are Portuguese.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Bissau
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 2,105,566
  • Area: 36,125 km²
  • Density: 58.3 people per km²
  • Currency: XOF
  • Languages: Portuguese
  • ISO code: GW

Where Guinea-Bissau sits

Guinea-Bissau 🇬🇼 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Bissau. It covers 36,125 square kilometres — 135th in the world — and is home to about 2,105,566 people, 147th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Guinea-Bissau compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Guinea-Bissau sits closest to North Macedonia and Slovenia. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Taiwan and Bhutan.

At 58.3 people per square kilometre it is close to the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.

Portuguese is an official language in 9 countries here, among them Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde and Equatorial Guinea, and 4 others. The XOF is shared with 7 other countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, and 4 others.

To see Guinea-Bissau next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Guinea-Bissau

The capital is already in the name: drop 'Guinea-' and you have Bissau. That is also how to tell it apart from Guinea (capital Conakry) and Equatorial Guinea.

The flag of Guinea-Bissau: red, yellow and green, with a black star

🇬🇼 The flag is a red vertical band at the hoist with a black five-pointed star, and yellow over green horizontal bands. These are the Pan-African colours. The black star is a symbol of African unity.

Region and neighbours

Guinea-Bissau is a small country on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, including the Bijagós islands offshore. It shares land borders with 2 countries: Senegal and Guinea.

Three facts about Guinea-Bissau

  1. The Bijagós archipelago, a group of about 88 islands, is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
  2. Guinea-Bissau declared independence from Portugal in 1973, and Portugal recognised it in 1974.
  3. Portuguese is the official language, but Guinea-Bissau Creole is the language most people share.

Sources: Wikipedia: Guinea-Bissau, Wikipedia: Flag of Guinea-Bissau, Wikipedia: Bissau, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Guinea-Bissau

Quizzes that include Guinea-Bissau

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Guinea-Bissau those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Guinea-Bissau

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Guinea-Bissau flag?

The flag of Guinea-Bissau is a red vertical band at the hoist with a black five-pointed star, and yellow over green horizontal bands. These are the Pan-African colours. The black star is a symbol of African unity.

Which countries border Guinea-Bissau?

Guinea-Bissau shares land borders with Senegal and Guinea.

How can I remember the capital of Guinea-Bissau?

The capital is already in the name: drop 'Guinea-' and you have Bissau. That is also how to tell it apart from Guinea (capital Conakry) and Equatorial Guinea.