How Many Countries in Africa? 54, 55 and the Full List

There are 54 countries in Africa. That is the number of sovereign states on the continent according to the United Nations list, and it is the figure most atlases and travel counters use. Some sources say 55, because the African Union counts the Sahrawi Republic (Western Sahara) as a member. Africa also has a handful of territories, such as Réunion and Mayotte, which are not countries on their own.

This guide gives you the 54 by region, explains the 55 and the territories, and shows how to count the African countries you have visited without arguing with yourself.

How many countries are in Africa by the UN count?

The United Nations Statistics Division publishes a standard list of countries and areas grouped into regions. Its Africa section has 60 entries. Of those, 54 are sovereign states. The other six are territories that belong to other countries or have an unresolved status: Western Sahara, Réunion, Mayotte, Saint Helena, the British Indian Ocean Territory and the French Southern Territories.

Every one of the 54 is a UN member state. The newest is South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan in 2011.

Why do some lists say 55?

The African Union says it has 55 member states. The difference of one is Western Sahara, which is a member under the name Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and joined in 1982.

Western Sahara is not a UN member state. The UN lists it as a territory, and its status is still disputed. Morocco, which controls most of it, is a full AU member too, and rejoined the organization on 31 January 2017.

So the two numbers answer two different questions:

• 54: sovereign states recognized as UN members on the African continent and its islands.
• 55: African Union members, which includes Western Sahara.

If you are counting for a travel map, 54 is the safer number. It lines up with the world total of 195 sovereign countries that we explain in how many countries there are in the world.

What is the full list of African countries?

Here are the 54 sovereign countries, grouped the way Tripfolio's map groups them.

Northern Africa (6)

Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia.

Western Africa (16)

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Middle Africa (10)

Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe and South Sudan.

Eastern Africa (17)

Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Southern Africa (5)

Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.

A note on regions: the UN places South Sudan in Eastern Africa, and our map files it under Middle Africa. The country is the same either way, and so is the total of 54.

Which African places are territories, not countries?

Five African territories show up on Tripfolio's map. They are colored in when you mark them, but they do not count toward your total out of 195:

• Western Sahara, whose status is disputed.
• Réunion and Mayotte, both overseas departments of France in the Indian Ocean.
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic.
• British Indian Ocean Territory, a British territory in the Indian Ocean.

This is the same rule we use everywhere: a sovereign country counts, a dependency does not. If you are unsure whether a short stop should be counted at all, read what counts as visiting a country.

Are islands like Madagascar and Cape Verde counted?

Yes. Africa's island states are full countries and are included in the 54: Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe. They are easy to forget when you picture the continent as one block of land, and they are often the countries people miss when they add up their African trips.

Which number should I use for my own count?

Pick one and stay consistent:

1. 54, the UN list. Clean and easy to defend. This is what Tripfolio uses.
2. 55, the African Union list. Use it if you want to include Western Sahara as a place you have been.
3. 54 plus territories. Count the 54 as countries, and keep Réunion, Mayotte and the others as bonus places on the side.

Counting honestly matters more than the exact total. If you want a bigger picture, our guide to how many countries you have visited shows how to turn your list into a percentage of the world.

Where to start if you have been to few African countries

Africa is where many travelers have the most room to grow their map. A few countries with their own pages on Tripfolio:

• Egypt, the classic first African trip, with the Nile and the pyramids
• Morocco, close to Europe and easy to reach on a short flight
• Kenya, for safaris and the Great Rift Valley
• South Africa, for cities, coast and wildlife in one country

Check your government's current travel advice before you book. Conditions change from country to country, and from year to year.

How to track your African countries on a map

A list of 54 names is hard to hold in your head. A map shows the gaps at a glance: the whole Sahel you have never crossed, the island nations off the east coast, the corner of Central Africa you know nothing about.

On Tripfolio you tap a country on the world map and mark it Visited or Want to visit. Visited countries turn green and your wishlist turns orange. The counter shows your total out of 195, and your continents out of 7, so Africa becomes one slice of a bigger picture. It is free and works in the browser on your phone.

You can try it without signing up on the countries visited map. Tap the African countries you have been to and see how much of the continent is still blank.

Color in your Africa map

Tap the countries you have visited, add the ones you dream about and share the card with a friend: color in your map for free.

FAQ

How many countries are in Africa?

There are 54 sovereign countries in Africa according to the UN list. The African Union counts 55 members because it includes Western Sahara.

What is the newest country in Africa?

South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan in 2011. It is also the newest UN member state in the world.

Is Western Sahara a country?

Its status is disputed. The African Union admitted it as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1982, but it is not a UN member and the UN lists it as a territory. Tripfolio shows it as a territory, so it does not count toward the 195.

Is Egypt in Africa or Asia?

Egypt is counted as an African country. Most of it lies in North Africa, and the UN lists it under Northern Africa. The Sinai Peninsula is geographically in Asia.

Do Réunion and Mayotte count as countries?

No. Both are overseas departments of France. You can mark them on Tripfolio's map, but they do not count toward your total of sovereign countries.