Map of Central African Republic | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: The Central African Republic (CAR) is a perennially weak state that sits at the crossroads of ethnic and linguistic groups in the center of the African continent. Among the last areas of Sub-Saharan Africa to be drawn into the world economy, its introduction into trade networks around the early 1700s fostered significant competition among its population. The local population sought to benefit from the lucrative Atlantic, trans-Saharan, and Indian Ocean trade in enslaved people and ivory. Slave raids aided by the local populations fostered animosity between ethnic groups that remains today. The territory was established as a French colony named Ubangui-Shari in 1903, and France modeled its administration of the colony after the Belgian Congo, subcontracting control of the territory to private companies that collected rubber and ivory. Although France banned the domestic slave trade in CAR in the 1910s, the private companies continued to exploit the population through forced labor. The colony of Ubangi-Shari gained independence from France as the Central African Republic in August 1960, but the death of independence leader Barthelemy BOGANDA six months prior led to an immediate struggle for power.


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Location: Central Africa, north of Democratic Republic of the Congo

Geographic coordinates: 7 00 N, 21 00 E

Map reference: Africa

Area
Total: 622,984 km²
Land: 622,984 km²
Water: 0 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Texas; about four times the size of Georgia

Land boundaries
Total: 5,920 km
Border countries: (6) Cameroon 901 km; Chad 1556 km; Democratic Republic of the Congo 1,747 km; Republic of the Congo 487 km; South Sudan 1055 km; Sudan 174 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: tropical; hot, dry winters; mild to hot, wet summers

Terrain: vast, flat to rolling plateau; scattered hills in northeast and southwest

Elevation
Highest point: Mont Ngaoui 1,410 m
Lowest point: Oubangui River 335 m
Mean elevation: 635 m

Natural resources: diamonds, uranium, timber, gold, oil, hydropower

Land use
Agricultural land: 8.1% (2018 est.)
Forest: 36.2% (2018 est.)
Other: 55.7% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land: 10 km² (2012)

Major rivers
By length in km: Ubangi river [s] (shared with Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo [m]) - 2,270 km


Major watersheds area km²: Atlantic Ocean drainage: Congo (3,730,881 km²), (Mediterranean Sea) Nile (3,254,853 km²)
Internal (endorheic basin) drainage: Lake Chad (2,497,738 km²)

Total water withdrawal
Municipal: 60.1 million cubic meters (2017 est.)
Industrial: 12 million cubic meters (2017 est.)
Agricultural: 400,000 cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources: 141 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Natural hazards: hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds affect northern areas; floods are common

Geography
Note: landlocked; almost the precise center of Africa


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Population
Distribution: majority of residents live in the western and central areas of the country, especially in and around the capital of Bangui : 5,454,533 (2022 est.)
Growth rate: 1.78% (2022 est.)
Below poverty line: 62% (2008 est.) NA

Nationality
Noun: Central African(s)
Adjective: Central African

Ethnic groups: Baya 28.8%, Banda 22.9%, Mandjia 9.9%, Sara 7.9%, M'Baka-Bantu 7.9%, Arab-Fulani (Peul) 6%, Mbum 6%, Ngbanki 5.5%, Zande-Nzakara 3%, other Central African Republic ethnic groups 2%, non-Central African Republic ethnic groups .1% (2003 est.)

Languages: French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages

Religions: Christian 89%, Muslim 9%, folk religion 1%, unaffiliated 1% (2020 est.)
Note: animistic beliefs and practices strongly influence the Christian majority

Demographic profile: The Central African Republic’s (CAR) humanitarian crisis has worsened since the coup of March 2013. CAR’s high mortality rate and low life expectancy are attributed to elevated rates of preventable and treatable diseases (including malaria and malnutrition), an inadequate health care system, precarious food security, and armed conflict. Some of the worst mortality rates are in western CAR’s diamond mining region, which has been impoverished because of government attempts to control the diamond trade and the fall in industrial diamond prices. To make matters worse, the government and international donors have reduced health funding in recent years. The CAR’s weak educational system and low literacy rate have also suffered as a result of the country’s ongoing conflict. Schools are closed, qualified teachers are scarce, infrastructure, funding, and supplies are lacking and subject to looting, and many students and teachers have been displaced by violence.

Age structure
0-14 years: 39.49% (male 1,188,682/female 1,176,958)
15-24 years: 19.89% (male 598,567/female 593,075)
25-54 years: 32.95% (male 988,077/female 986,019)
55-64 years: 4.32% (male 123,895/female 134,829)
65 years and over: 3.35% (male 78,017/female 122,736) (2020 est.)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 102.8
Youth dependency ratio: 97.7
Elderly dependency ratio: 5.1
Potential support ratio: 19.7 (2021 est.)

Median age
Total: 20 years
Male: 19.7 years
Female: 20.3 years (2020 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.78% (2022 est.)

Birth rate: 32.79 births/1000 population (2022 est.)

Death rate: 11.76 deaths/1000 population (2022 est.)

Net migration rate: -3.22 migrant(s)/1000 population (2022 est.)

Population distribution: majority of residents live in the western and central areas of the country, especially in and around the capital of Bangui

Urbanization
Urban population: 43.6% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 3.32% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major urban areas
Population: 958,000 BANGUI (capital) (2023)

Environment
Current issues: water pollution; tap water is not potable; poaching and mismanagement have diminished the country's reputation as one of the last great wildlife refuges; desertification; deforestation; soil erosion
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands
International agreements signed but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Air pollutants
Particulate matter emissions: 49.5 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions: 0.3 megatons (2016 est.)
Methane emissions: 22.44 megatons (2020 est.)

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.08 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.89 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.64 male(s)/female
Total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2022 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio: 829 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 82.97 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 89.03 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 76.73 deaths/1000 live births (2022 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 55.52 years
Male: 54.19 years
Female: 56.88 years (2022 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.04 children born/woman (2022 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate: 17.8% (2019)

Drinking water source
Improved:
Unimproved:

Current health expenditure: 7.8% of GDP (2019)

Physicians density: 0.07 physicians/1000 population (2018)

Hospital bed density: 1 beds/1000 population (2011)

Sanitation facility access
Improved:
Unimproved:

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 2.7% (2021 est.)

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: very high (2020)
Food or water borne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vector borne diseases: malaria and dengue fever
Watercontactdiseases: schistosomiasis
Animalcontactdiseases: rabies
Respiratorydiseases: meningococcal meningitis
Note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; the Central African Republic is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 7.5% (2016)

Alcohol consumption
Per capita total: 0.94 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita beer: 0.55 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita wine: 0.04 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita spirits: 0.02 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita other alcohols: 0.33 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 20.5% (2019)

Education expenditures: 2.2% of GDP (2020 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 37.4%
Male: 49.5%
Female: 25.8% (2018)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 7 years
Male: 8 years
Female: 6 years (2012)

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Central African Republic
Conventional short form: none
Local long form: Republique Centrafricaine
Local short form: none
Former: Ubangi-Shari, Central African Empire
Abbreviation: CAR
Etymology: self-descriptive name specifying the country's location on the continent; "Africa" is derived from the Roman designation of the area corresponding to present-day Tunisia "Africa terra," which meant "Land of the Afri" (the tribe resident in that area), but which eventually came to mean the entire continent

Government type: presidential republic

Capital
Name: Bangui
Geographic coordinates: 4 22 N, 18 35 E
Time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Etymology: established as a French settlement in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi River; the Ubangi itself was named from the native word for the "rapids" located beside the outpost, which marked the end of navigable water north from Brazzaville

Administrative divisions: 14 prefectures (prefectures, singular - prefecture), 2 economic prefectures* (prefectures economiques, singular - prefecture economique), and 1 commune**; Bamingui-Bangoran, Bangui**, Basse-Kotto, Haute-Kotto, Haut-Mbomou, Kemo, Lobaye, Mambere-Kadei, Mbomou, Nana-Grebizi*, Nana-Mambere, Ombella-Mpoko, Ouaka, Ouham, Ouham-Pende, Sangha-Mbaere*, Vakaga

Dependent areas

Independence: 13 August 1960 (from France)

National holiday: Republic Day, 1 December (1958)

Constitution
History: several previous; latest (interim constitution) approved by the Transitional Council 30 August 2015, adopted by referendum 13-14 December 2015, ratified 27 March 2016
Amendments: proposals require support of the government, two thirds of the National Council of Transition, and assent by the "Mediator of the Central African" crisis; passage requires at least three-fourths majority vote by the National Council membership; non-amendable constitutional provisions include those on the secular and republican form of government, fundamental rights and freedoms, amendment procedures, or changes to the authorities of various high-level executive, parliamentary, and judicial officials

Legal system: civil law system based on the French model

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

Citizenship
Citizenship by birth: no
Citizenship by descentonly: least one parent must be a citizen of the Central African Republic
Dual citizenship recognized: yes
Residency requirement for naturalization: 35 years

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Faustin-Archange TOUADERA (since 30 March 2016)
Head of government: Prime Minister Felix MOLOUA (since 7 February 2022); note - Prime Minister Henri-Marie DONDRA resigned on 2 February 2022
Cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president
Elections and appointments: under the 2015 constitution, the president is elected by universal direct suffrage for a period of 5 years (eligible for a second term); election last held 27 December 2020 (next to be held in December 2025); note - Central African Republic held presidential and partial legislative elections on December 27, 2020; voting was disrupted in some areas, so those constituencies held the first round of their legislative elections on March 14, 2021 while some of the constituencies that did vote on December 27, 2020 held runoff elections for their legislators.
Election results:

Legislative branch
Description: unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (140 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote with a second round if needed; members serve 5-year terms)
Elections: first round last held on 27 December 2020; note - on election day, voting in many electoral areas was disrupted by armed groups; on 13 February 2021, President TOUADERA announced that a new first round of elections will be held on 27 February for those areas controlled by armed groups and and second round on 14 March
Election results: December 2015 election: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - UNDP 16, URCA 11, RDC 8, MLPC 10, KNK 7, other 28, independent 60; composition as of March 2022 - men 122, women 18, percent of women 12.9%

Judicial branch
Highest courts: Supreme Court or Cour Supreme (consists of NA judges); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 judges, at least 3 of whom are women)
Judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judges appointed by the president; Constitutional Court judge appointments - 2 by the president, 1 by the speaker of the National Assembly, 2 elected by their peers, 2 are advocates elected by their peers, and 2 are law professors elected by their peers; judges serve 7-year non-renewable terms
Subordinate courts: high courts; magistrates' courts

Political parties and leaders: African Party for Radical Transformation and Integration of States or PATRIE [Crepin MBOLI-GOUMBA]
Central African Democratic Rally or RDC [Desire KOLINGBA]
Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People or MLPC [Martin ZIGUELE]
National Convergence (also known as Kwa Na Kwa or KNK) [Francois BOZIZE]
National Movement of Independents or MOUNI
National Union for Democracy and Progress or UNDP [Michel AMINE]
National Union of Republican Democrats or UNADER
Party for Democratic Governance or PGD
Path of Hope [Karim MECKASSOUA]
Union for Central African Renewal or URCA [Anicet-Georges DOLOGUELE]
United Hearts Movement or MCU [Faustin-Archange TOUADERA]
Note: only parties with seats in the Parliament included

International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, AU, BDEAC, CEMAC, EITI (compliant country) (suspended), FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LCBC, MIGA, NAM, OIC (observer), OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Martial NDOUBOU (since 17 September 2018)
In the us chancery: 2,704 Ontario Road NW, Washington, DC 20,009
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 483-7,800
In the us FAX: [1] (202) 332-9,893
In the us email address and website:

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