Equatorial Guinea Country Overview
Where is Equatorial Guinea located? Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Within the time zone map it is in the same zone as Europe. The time zone map describes the time difference between the individual countries and the official world time and then divides them into world time zones. The time zone that Equatorial Guinea is in means that it is one hour off World Clock, ie one hour ahead of Universal Time.
Bordering Countries of Equatorial Guinea
According to abbreviationfinder, Equatorial Guinea is a small country located on the west coast of Central Africa. It is bordered by Cameroon to the north, Gabon to the south and east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The country has a total area of 28,000 square kilometers, making it slightly larger than the US state of Maryland.
Cameroon is Equatorial Guinea’s northern neighbor and shares a border of approximately 189 kilometers in length. Cameroon is a much larger country with an area of 475,442 square kilometers and a population of 24 million people. It is one of Africa’s most diverse countries with over 200 different ethnic groups living within its borders. Politically, Cameroon has been under authoritarian rule since its independence in 1960. The economy relies heavily on oil exports and agriculture.
Gabon lies directly south and east of Equatorial Guinea with their shared border stretching for around 350 kilometers along their common frontier. Gabon has an area of 267,667 square kilometers and a population estimated at 2 million people as of 2020. The nation became independent from France in 1960 and since then has been ruled by several presidents who have generally maintained strong control over politics within the country but have also implemented some economic reforms that have helped to improve living standards for many citizens. The economy relies largely on oil production as well as timber exports which make up a significant portion of GDP growth each year.
Population Distribution
As of 2023, the latest population of Equatorial Guinea is 836,178, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
| Total population | 836,178 |
| Population growth rate | 2.35% |
| Birth rate | 32.20 births per 1,000 people |
| Life expectancy | |
| Overall life expectancy | 63.12 years |
| Men life expectancy | 62.09 years |
| Women life expectancy | 64.18 years |
| Age structure | |
| 0-14 years | 39.46% |
| 15-64 years | 56.60% |
| 65 years and above | 3.94% |
| Median age | 19.50 years |
| Gender ratio (Male to Female) | 0.99 |
| Population density | 29.81 residents per km² |
| Urbanization | 48.10% |
| Ethnicities | |
| predominantly Bantu: 84% catch, Benga and others on the mainland, 10% Bubi u. 3000 Fernandinos on organic produce | |
| Religions | |
| Christians (mainly Roman Catholic) 88.8%; Non-denominational 5.9%; Popular religions 4.6%; Muslims 0.5%; Other 0.2% | |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | 0.588 |
| HDI ranking | 144th out of 194 |
People in Equatorial Guinea
The majority of the population of Equatorial Guinea belong to the Fang tribe. 80 to 85 percent of the population are caught. They belong to the Bantu peoples. Bantu people live in the central and southern part of Africa, as you can see on the map on the next page. They speak Bantu languages. Fang also live in smaller numbers in the neighboring areas in Gabon and Cameroon.
72 percent of the population live in cities, 28 percent in rural areas. Each woman has an average of 4.5 children. This is very much. We have 1.4 children per woman.
Several minorities also live in Equatorial Guinea. The largest group are the Bubi, also a Bantu people. They make up around 6.5 percent of the population. Bubi only live on Bioko, where they were originally the local people. There they still live today, especially in the less accessible villages. They were suppressed during the dictatorship in the 1970s. Before that they made up at least 20 percent of the population. Many boys emigrated to Spain or the neighboring countries Gabon and Cameroon during this time.
Other minorities in the country come from the Ndowé, Benga and others.
Languages in Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea has three official languages: Spanish, French and, since 2010, Portuguese. Spain was the colonial power in the country for a long time, namely since 1778 on Bioko, since 1884 on Annobón and since 1900 also on the mainland.
Equatorial Guinea is the only country in Africa where Spanish is the official language. First of all, Spanish is the language of education and administration. However, the Spanish here differs from the Spanish spoken in Spain. There are differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. 67 percent of the population speak Spanish.
But the population learns the language of their people as their mother tongue. So the Fang speak Fang and the Bubi Bube, as their language is called. Both are Bantu languages, as are the languages Benga, Ndowé, Molengue or Kwasio, which are often only spoken by a few people. Fang is an important lingua franca in Equatorial Guinea as it is understood by many residents.
Religions in Equatorial Guinea
Most of the residents of Equatorial Guinea are Christians. Many were converted to Christianity by missionaries around 1900. The long period of Spanish rule resulted in most of the population being Catholics (87 percent). Five percent are Protestants. Two percent are Muslim. Five percent follow the traditional natural religions.