Seychelles 🇸🇨

Seychelles is a country in Africa with a population of 107,118. Its capital is Victoria. The official currency is SCR, and the main languages are English, French, Seychellois Creole.

Quick facts

Capital: Victoria
Continent: Africa
Population: 107,118
Area: 455 km²
Density: 235 people per km²
Currency: SCR
Languages: English, French, Seychellois Creole
ISO code: SC

Where Seychelles sits

Seychelles 🇸🇨 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Victoria. It covers 455 square kilometres — 183rd in the world — and is home to about 107,118 people, 183rd 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 Seychelles compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Seychelles sits closest to Tonga and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Palau and Andorra.

At 235 people per square kilometre it is about 4.0 times the world average of 59.4. Its population and area ranks match exactly, which is uncommon.

English is an official language in 58 countries here, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas and Barbados, and 53 others. The SCR is used by Seychelles and no one else.

To see Seychelles 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 Seychelles

Victoria, the capital, is on the main island, Mahé. Seychelles is Africa's smallest country, so picture a small queen, Victoria, on a small island. For the flag, five colourful rays fanning out like a sunrise from one corner.

The flag of Seychelles: blue, yellow, red, white and green

🇸🇨 The flag is five bands of blue, yellow, red, white and green fanning out from the bottom corner by the flagpole. The fanning bands show a young country moving into the future. Blue stands for the sky and sea, yellow for the sun, red for the people working together in unity and love, white for justice and harmony, and green for the land.

Region and neighbours

Seychelles is an island country of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, about 1,500 km east of mainland Africa and northeast of Madagascar. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Seychelles

Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa and has the fewest people of any African country.
The coco de mer palm grows only on Praslin and nearby Curieuse, and produces the heaviest seed in the world.
The Aldabra giant tortoise lives in Seychelles.

Sources: Wikipedia: Seychelles, Wikipedia: Flag of Seychelles, Wikipedia: Victoria, Seychelles, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Seychelles

African capitals quiz — match Seychelles to Victoria
African flags quiz — spot the Seychelles flag among its neighbours
Island nations quiz — Seychelles is an island country

Quizzes that include Seychelles

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

Africa map quiz — place it on a blank map
Africa flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
Africa capitals quiz — match it to Victoria
Seychelles capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Seychelles
Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

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

Nearby countries

Algeria 🇩🇿 — capital Algiers
Angola 🇦🇴 — capital Luanda
Benin 🇧🇯 — capital Porto-Novo
Botswana 🇧🇼 — capital Gaborone
Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 — capital Ouagadougou
Burundi 🇧🇮 — capital Gitega
Cabo Verde 🇨🇻 — capital Praia
Cameroon 🇨🇲 — capital Yaoundé
Central African Republic 🇨🇫 — capital Bangui
Chad 🇹🇩 — capital N'Djamena
Comoros 🇰🇲 — capital Moroni
Congo 🇨🇬 — capital Brazzaville

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Seychelles flag?

The flag of Seychelles is five bands of blue, yellow, red, white and green fanning out from the bottom corner by the flagpole. The fanning bands show a young country moving into the future. Blue stands for the sky and sea, yellow for the sun, red for the people working together in unity and love, white for justice and harmony, and green for the land.

Which countries border Seychelles?

None. Seychelles is an island country of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, about 1,500 km east of mainland Africa and northeast of Madagascar, so it has no land borders with other countries.