Map of Sudan | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background:


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Location: north-eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Egypt and Eritrea

Geographic coordinates: 15 00 N, 30 00 E

Map reference: Africa

Area
Total: 1,861,484 km²
Land: 1,731,671 km²
Water: 129,813 km²
Comparative: slightly less than one-fifth the size of the US

Land boundaries
Total: 6,819 km
Border countries: (7) Central African Republic 174 km; Chad 1,403 km; Egypt 1,276 km; Eritrea 682 km; Ethiopia 744 km; Libya 382 km; South Sudan 2,158 km
Note: Sudan-South Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment; final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; final sovereignty status of Abyei region pending negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan

Coastline: 853 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguous zone: 18 nm
Continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate: hot and dry; arid desert; rainy season varies by region (April to November)

Terrain: generally flat, featureless plain; desert dominates the north

Elevation
Highest point: Jabal Marrah 3,042 m
Lowest point: Red Sea 0 m
Mean elevation: 568 m

Natural resources: petroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold; hydropower

Land use
Agricultural land: 100% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land arable land: 15.7% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent crops: 0.2% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent pasture: 84.2% (2018 est.)
Forest: 0% (2018 est.)
Other: 0% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land: 15,666 km² (2020)

Major rivers
By length in km:

Major watersheds area km²:

Total water withdrawal
Municipal: 950 million cubic meters (2020 est.)
Industrial: 80 million cubic meters (2020 est.)
Agricultural: 25.91 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources: 37.8 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Natural hazards: dust storms and periodic persistent droughts

Geography
Note: the Nile is Sudan's primary water source; its major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, meet at Khartoum to form the River Nile which flows northward through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea


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Population
Distribution: with the exception of a ribbon of settlement that corresponds to the banks of the Nile, northern Sudan, which extends into the dry Sahara, is sparsely populated; more abundant vegetation and broader access to water increases population distribution in the south extending habitable range along nearly the entire border with South Sudan; sizeable areas of population are found around Khartoum, southeast between the Blue and White Nile Rivers, and throughout South Darfur as shown on this: 49,197,555 (2023 est.)
Growth rate: 2.55% (2023 est.)
Below poverty line: 46.5% (2009 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Sudanese (singular and plural)
Adjective: Sudanese

Ethnic groups: Sudanese Arab (approximately 70%), Fur, Beja, Nuba, Ingessana, Uduk, Fallata, Masalit, Dajo, Gimir, Tunjur, Berti; there are over 500 ethnic groups

Languages: Arabic (official), English (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, Fur
Major-language samples:

Religions: Sunni Muslim, small Christian minority

Demographic profile: Sudan’s population grew almost fourfold between 1956 and 2008, the date of its last census. Even after the southern part of the country became independent South Sudan in 2011, the population of Sudan has continued to grow. The gender balance overall is fairly even. Females, however, are more prevalent in rural areas because of males migrating to urban areas in search of work. The total fertility rate (TFR) remains high despite falling from 7 children per woman in Sudan’s first census in 1955 to about 4.5 in 2022, which can be attributed to early marriage and a low contraceptive prevalence rate.  Among the factors that led to the reduction in fertility are family planning, improvement in women’s education and participation in the labor force outside the home, and migration and urbanization. 

Age structure
0-14 years: 40.47% (male 10,115,311/female 9,793,060)
15-64 years: 56.35% (male 13,774,002/female 13,946,621)
65 years and over: 3.19% (2023 est.) (male 814,480/female 754,081)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 76.9
Youth dependency ratio: 74
Elderly dependency ratio: 6.2
Potential support ratio: 16.2 (2021 est.)

Median age
Total: 19.1 years (2023 est.)
Male: 18.8 years
Female: 19.3 years

Population growth rate: 2.55% (2023 est.)

Birth rate: 33.3 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Death rate: 6.2 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Population distribution: with the exception of a ribbon of settlement that corresponds to the banks of the Nile, northern Sudan, which extends into the dry Sahara, is sparsely populated; more abundant vegetation and broader access to water increases population distribution in the south extending habitable range along nearly the entire border with South Sudan; sizeable areas of population are found around Khartoum, southeast between the Blue and White Nile Rivers, and throughout South Darfur as shown on this

Urbanization
Urban population: 36.3% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 3.43% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major urban areas
Population: 6.344 million KHARTOUM (capital), 1.057 million Nyala (2023)

Environment
Current issues: water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; water scarcity and periodic drought; wildlife populations threatened by excessive hunting; soil erosion; desertification; deforestation; loss of biodiversity
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
International agreements signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants
Particulate matter emissions: 21.43 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions: 20 megatons (2016 est.)
Methane emissions: 75.1 megatons (2020 est.)

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.08 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio: 270 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 41.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
Male: 46.9 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 35.7 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 67.5 years (2023 est.)
Male: 65.2 years
Female: 69.8 years

Total fertility rate: 4.54 children born/woman (2023 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate: 12.2% (2014)

Drinking water source
Improved urban: 99% of population
Improved rural: 80.7% of population
Improved total: 87.1% of population
Unimproved urban: 1% of population
Unimproved rural: 19.3% of population
Unimproved total: 12.9% of population (2020 est.)

Current health expenditure: 3% of GDP (2020)

Physicians density: 0.26 physicians/1,000 population (2017)

Hospital bed density: 0.7 beds/1,000 population (2017)

Sanitation facility access
Improved urban:
Unimproved urban:

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: very high (2023)
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and Rift Valley fever
Water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
Animal contact diseases: rabies
Respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis
Note: on 31 August 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Sudan 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: 6.6% (2014)

Alcohol consumption
Per capita total: 1.93 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita beer: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita wine: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita spirits: 0.29 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita other alcohols: 1.63 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 33% (2014)

Education expenditures: NA

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 60.7%
Male: 65.4%
Female: 56.1% (2018)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 8 years
Male: 8 years
Female: 7 years (2015)

Youth unemployment
Rate ages 15 24 total: 35.6% (2021 est.)
Rate ages 15 24 male: 30.5%
Rate ages 15 24 female: 45.8%


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of the Sudan
Conventional short form: Sudan
Local long form: Jumhuriyat as-Sudan
Local short form: As-Sudan
Former: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Sudan
Etymology: the name "Sudan" derives from the Arabic "bilad-as-sudan" meaning "Land of the Black [peoples]"

Government type: presidential republic

Capital
Name: Khartoum
Geographic coordinates: 15 36 N, 32 32 E
Time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Etymology: several explanations of the name exist; two of the more plausible are that it is derived from Arabic "al-jartum" meaning "elephant's trunk" or "hose," and likely referring to the narrow strip of land extending between the Blue and White Niles; alternatively, the name could derive from the Dinka words "khar-tuom," indicating a "place where rivers meet"

Administrative divisions: 18 states (wilayat, singular - wilayah); Blue Nile, Central Darfur, East Darfur, Gedaref, Gezira, Kassala, Khartoum, North Darfur, North Kordofan, Northern, Red Sea, River Nile, Sennar, South Darfur, South Kordofan, West Darfur, West Kordofan, White Nile
Note: the peace Agreement signed in October 2020 included a provision to establish a system of governance to restructure the country's current 18 provinces/states into regions

Dependent areas

Independence: 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and the UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, 1 January (1956)

Constitution
History: previous 1973, 1998, 2005 (interim constitution, which was suspended in April 2019); latest initial draft completed by Transitional Military Council in May 2019; revised draft known as the "Draft Constitutional Charter for the 2019 Transitional Period," or “2019 Constitutional Declaration” was signed by the Council and opposition coalition on 4 August 2019
Amendments: amended 2020 to incorporate the Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan; the military suspended several provisions of the Constitutional Declaration in October 2021

Legal system: mixed legal system of Islamic law and English common law; note - in mid-July 2020, Sudan amended 15 provisions of its 1991 penal code

International law organization participation: accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; withdrew acceptance of ICCt jurisdiction in 2008

Citizenship
Citizenship by birth: no
Citizenship by descent only: the father must be a citizen of Sudan
Dual citizenship recognized: no
Residency requirement for naturalization: 10 years

Suffrage: 17 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: Sovereign Council Chair and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces General Abd-al-Fatah al-BURHAN Abd-al-Rahman; note - the 2019 Constitutional Declaration established a collective chief of state of the "Sovereign Council," which was chaired by al-BURHAN; on 25 October 2021, al-BURHAN dissolved the Sovereign Council but reinstated it on 11 November 2021, replacing its civilian members (previously selected by the umbrella civilian coalition the Forces for Freedom and Change) with civilians of the military’s choosing, but then relieved the newly-appointed civilian members of their duties on 6 July 2022; note - Sovereign Council currently consists of only the 5 generals
Head of government: Sovereign Council Chair and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces General Abd-al-Fatah al-BURHAN Abd-al-Rahman; Acting Prime Minister Osman HUSSEIN (since 19 January 2022); note - former Prime Minister Abdallah HAMDOUK resigned on 2 January 2022; HAMDOUK served as prime minister from August 2019 to October 2019 before he was kidnapped; he was later freed and reinstated as prime minister on 21 November 2021
Cabinet: most members of the Council of Ministers were forced from office in October 2021 by the military and subsequently resigned in November 2021; the military allowed a handful of ministers appointed by former armed opposition groups to retain their posts; at present, most of the members of the Council are senior civil servants serving in an acting minister capacity appointed either by Prime Minister HAMDOUK prior to his resignation or by the military
Elections/appointments: the 2019 Constitutional Declaration originally called for elections to be held in late 2022 at the end of the transitional period; that date was pushed back to late 2023 by the Juba Peace Agreement; the methodology for future elections has not yet been defined; according to the 2019 Constitutional Declaration, civilian members of the Sovereign Council and the prime minister were to have been nominated by an umbrella coalition of civilian actors known as the Forces for Freedom and Change; this methodology was followed in selecting HAMDOUK as prime minister in August 2019; the military purports to have suspended this provision of the 2019 Constitutional Declaration in October 2021; Prime Minister HAMDOUK’s restoration to office in November 2021 was the result of an agreement signed between him and Sovereign Council Chair BURHAN; military members of the Sovereign Council are selected by the leadership of the security forces; representatives of former armed groups to the Sovereign Council are selected by the signatories of the Juba Peace Agreement
Election results: NA

Legislative branch
Description: according to the August 2019 Constitutional Declaration, which established Sudan's transitional government, the Transitional Legislative Council (TLC) was to have served as the national legislature during the transitional period until elections could be held; as of June 2023, the TLC had not been established
Elections:
Election results:

Judicial branch
Highest courts: National Supreme Court (consists of 70 judges organized into panels of 3 judges and includes 4 circuits that operate outside the capital); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 justices including the court president); note - the Constitutional Court resides outside the national judiciary and has not been appointed since the signature of the 2019 Constitutional Declaration
Judge selection and term of office: National Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges selected by the Supreme Judicial Council, which replaced the National Judicial Service Commission upon enactment of the 2019 Constitutional Declaration
Subordinate courts: Court of Appeal; other national courts; public courts; district, town, and rural courts

Political parties and leaders:

International organization participation: ABEDA, ACP, AfDB, AFESD, AMF, AU (suspended), CAEU, COMESA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (NGOs), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNHRC, UNIDO, UNOOSA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Mohamed Abdalla Idris MOHAMED (since 16 September 2022)
In the us chancery: 2,210 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 338-8,565
In the us FAX: [1] (202) 667-2,406
In the us email address and website:
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador John T. GODFREY (since 1 September 2022)
From the us embassy: P.O. Box 699, Kilo 10, Soba, Khartoum
From the us mailing address: 2,200 Khartoum Place, Washington DC 20,521-2,200
From the us telephone: [249] 187-0-22,000
From the us email address and website:

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with a green isosceles triangle based on the hoist side; colors and design based on the Arab Revolt flag of World War I, but the meanings of the colors are expressed as follows: red signifies the struggle for freedom, white is the color of peace, light, and love, black represents the people of Sudan (in Arabic 'Sudan' means black), green is the color of Islam, agriculture, and prosperity

National symbols: secretary bird; national colors: red, white, black, green

National anthem
Name: "Nahnu Djundulla Djundulwatan" (We Are the Army of God and of Our Land)
Lyrics/music: Sayed Ahmad Muhammad SALIH/Ahmad MURJAN
Note: adopted 1956; originally served as the anthem of the Sudanese military

National heritage
Total World Heritage Sites: 3 (2 cultural, 1 natural)
Selected World Heritage Site locales:


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Economy overview: low-income Sahel economy; one of the world’s major agricultural exporters; shared oil pipeline exports with South Sudan; transitional government increasing human capital investment; food prices hit hard by COVID-19; ongoing Gezira Scheme irrigation project

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real gdp growth rate:

Real gdp per capita:
Note: data are in 2017 dollars

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 77.3% (2017 est.)
Government consumption: 5.8% (2017 est.)
Investment in fixed capital: 18.4% (2017 est.)
Investment in inventories: 0.6% (2017 est.)
Exports of goods and services: 9.7% (2017 est.)
Imports of goods and services: -11.8% (2017 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 39.6% (2017 est.)
Industry: 2.6% (2017 est.)
Services: 57.8% (2017 est.)

Agriculture products: sugar cane, sorghum, milk, groundnuts, onions, sesame seed, goat milk, millet, bananas, wheat

Industries: oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, armaments, automobile/light truck assembly, milling

Industrial production growth rate: -0.7% (2021 est.)

Labor force: 12.921 million (2021 est.)

Unemployment rate:

Youth unemployment
Rate ages 15 24 total: 35.6% (2021 est.)
Rate ages 15 24 male: 30.5%
Rate ages 15 24 female: 45.8%

Population below poverty line: 46.5% (2009 est.)

Gini index
Coefficient distribution of family income: 34.2 (2014 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10%: 2.7%
Highest 10%: 26.7% (2009 est.)

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $3.479 billion (2019 est.)
Expenditures: $8.277 billion (2019 est.)
Surplus  or deficit: -10.6% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Taxes and other revenues: 7.39% (of GDP) (2016 est.)

Public debt:

Revenue
From forest resources: 3.01% of GDP (2018 est.)
From coal: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices:

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance:

Exports:
Partners: United Arab Emirates 31%, China 19%, Saudi Arabia 14%, India 12%, Egypt 5% (2019)
Commodities: gold, crude petroleum, sesame seeds, sheep, goats, cotton, ground nuts (2019)

Imports:
Partners: China 31%, India 14%, United Arab Emirates 11%, Egypt 6% (2019)
Commodities: raw sugar, wheat, packaged medicines, jewelry, tires, cars and vehicle parts (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

Debt external:

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates:


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Electricity
Access population without electricity: 23 million (2020)
Access electrification-total population: 61.7% (2021)
Access electrification-urban areas: 84.2% (2021)
Access electrification-rural areas: 49.3% (2021)
Installed generating capacity: 4.354 million kW (2020 est.)
Consumption: 9,682,060,000 kWh (2019 est.)
Exports: 0 kWh (2019 est.)
Imports: 0 kWh (2019 est.)
Transmission/distribution losses: 4.599 billion kWh (2019 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels: 43.5% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources solar: 0.1% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources wind: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 55.5% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources tide and wave: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources geothermal: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources biomass and waste: 0.9% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)

Coal
Production: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
Consumption: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
Exports: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
Imports: 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
Proven reserves: 0 metric tons (2019 est.)

Petroleum
Total petroleum production: 66,900 bbl/day (2021 est.)
Refined petroleum consumption: 137,700 bbl/day (2019 est.)
Crude oil and lease condensate exports: 12,900 bbl/day (2018 est.)
Crude oil and lease condensate imports: 9,000 bbl/day (2018 est.)
Crude oil estimated reserves: 5 billion barrels (2021 est.)

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 94,830 bbl/day (2015 est.)
Products exports: 8,541 bbl/day (2015 est.)
Products imports: 24,340 bbl/day (2015 est.)

Natural gas
Production: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
Consumption: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
Exports: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
Imports: 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
Proven reserves: 84.95 billion cubic meters (2021 est.)

Carbon dioxide emissions: 17.319 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From coal and metallurgical coke: 0 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From petroleum and other liquids: 17.319 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From consumed natural gas: 0 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)

Energy consumption per capita: 8.047 million Btu/person (2019 est.)


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Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 155,802 (2022 est.)
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: (2022 est.) less than 1
Mobile cellular total subscriptions: 34,671,259 (2022 est.)
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 74 (2022 est.)

Telephone system

Broadcast media: Following the establishment of Sudan’s transitional government in August 2019, government-owned broadcasters became increasingly independent from government and military control. Following the October 2021 military takeover, additional restrictions were imposed on these government-owned broadcasters, which now practice a heightened degree of self-censorship but still operate more independently than in the pre-2019 environment. (2022)

Internet
Country code: .sd
Users total: 13.248 million (2021 est.)
Users percent of population: 28.8% (2021 est.)

Broadband fixed subscriptions
Total: 28,782 (2020 est.)
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 0.1 (2020 est.)


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Military expenditures:
Note: many defense expenditures are probably off-budget

Military and security forces:
Note 1: the RSF is a semi-autonomous paramilitary force formed in 2013 to fight armed rebel groups in Sudan, with Mohammed Hamdan DAGALO (aka Hemeti) as its commander (he is also a member of the Sovereign Council); it was initially placed under the National Intelligence and Security Service, then came under the direct command of former president Omar al-BASHIR, who boosted the RSF as his own personal security force; as a result, the RSF was better funded and equipped than the regular armed forces; the RSF has since recruited from all parts of Sudan beyond its original Darfuri Arab groups but remains under the personal patronage and control of DAGALO; the RSF has participated in combat operations in Yemen and in counterinsurgency operations in Darfur, South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile State; it has also been active along the borders with Libya and the Central African Republic and has been used to respond to anti-regime demonstrations; the RSF has been accused of committing human rights abuses against civilians and is reportedly involved in business enterprises, such as gold mining
Note 2: the Central Reserve Police (aka Abu Tira) is a combat-trained paramilitary force that has been used against demonstrators and sanctioned by the US for human rights abuses

Military service age and obligation: 18-33 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service for men and women; 12-24 month service obligation (2023)
Note: implementation of conscription is reportedly uneven

Space program
Overview: has a small space program focused on acquiring and operating mostly remote sensing (RS) satellites; has produced cube satellites and operates satellites; conducting research and development in such areas as astronomy, cube satellites, geoinformatics, RS, and satellite tracking/telemetry; has established relations with space agencies and industries with a number of countries, including China, Egypt, France, India, Japan, and the US; also a member of the Arab Space Cooperation Group, established by the UAE in 2019 (2023)
Overview note: further details about the key activities, programs, and milestones of the country’s space program, as well as government spending estimates on the space sector, appear in space programs

Terrorist groups
Terrorist groups: Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); al-Qa’ida; Harakat Sawa’d Misr
Note: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in terrorist organizations


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National air transport system
Number of registered air carriers: 9 (2020)
Inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 42
Annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 269,958 (2018)

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix: ST

Airports: 67 (2021)
With paved runways: 17
With paved runways civil airports: 5
With paved runways military airports: 1
With paved runways joint use (civil-military) airports: 1
With paved runways other airports: 10
With paved runways note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)
With unpaved runways: 50
With unpaved runways note: unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control

Heliports: 7 (2021)

Pipelines: 156 km gas, 4,070 km oil, 1,613 km refined products (2013)

Railways
Total: 7,251 km (2014)
Narrow gauge:

Roadways
Total: 31,000 km (2019)
Paved: 8,000 km (2019)
Unpaved: 23,000 km (2019)
Urban: 1,000 km (2019)

Waterways: 4,068 km (2011) (1,723 km open year-round on White and Blue Nile Rivers)

Merchant marine
Total: 15 (2022)
By type: other 15

Ports and terminals
Major seaports: Port Sudan


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Disputes international: Sudan-Central African Republic: periodic violent skirmishes persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic over water and grazing rights; Sudan closed its border with the Central African Republic in January 2022 due to security concerns

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Refugees country of origin: 682,519 (South Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers), 137,402 (Eritrea) (refugees and asylum seekers), 93,477 (Syria) (refugees and asylum seekers), 72,334 (Ethiopia) (refugees and asylum seekers), 18,597 (Central African Republic) (2023)
IDPs: 5.42 million (armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan since 15 April 2023) (2023); note - includes some non-Sudanese nationals

Illicit drugs