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Burkina Faso 🇧🇫

Burkina Faso is a country in Africa with a population of 22,673,762. Its capital is Ouagadougou. The official currency is XOF, and the main languages are French.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Ouagadougou
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 22,673,762
  • Area: 272,967 km²
  • Density: 83.1 people per km²
  • Currency: XOF
  • Languages: French
  • ISO code: BF

Where Burkina Faso sits

Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Ouagadougou. It covers 272,967 square kilometres — 74th in the world — and is home to about 22,673,762 people, 58th 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 Burkina Faso compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Burkina Faso sits closest to Mali and Syria. In land area, its nearest counterparts are New Zealand and Gabon.

At 83.1 people per square kilometre it is somewhat above the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

French is an official language in 30 countries here, among them Belgium, Benin, Burundi and Cameroon, and 25 others. The XOF is shared with 7 other countries, including Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast, and 4 others.

To see Burkina Faso 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 Burkina Faso

Say Ouagadougou as 'wah-gah-DOO-goo', and remember that locals shorten it to Ouaga. The name Burkina Faso means 'land of upright (honest) people'.

The flag of Burkina Faso: red and green, with a yellow star

🇧🇫 The flag is two horizontal bands, red over green, with a yellow five-pointed star in the centre. Red stands for the struggle for independence, green for hope and abundance, and the yellow star for the country's mineral wealth.

Region and neighbours

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, in the Sahel south of the Sahara. It shares land borders with 6 countries: Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Burkina Faso is landlocked, with no coast on the open ocean.

Three facts about Burkina Faso

  1. Burkina Faso was called Upper Volta until 1984.
  2. Its name combines words from two local languages, Mooré and Dioula, and means 'land of upright people'.
  3. Ouagadougou hosts FESPACO, one of the largest film festivals in Africa.

Sources: Wikipedia: Burkina Faso, Wikipedia: Flag of Burkina Faso, Wikipedia: Ouagadougou, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Burkina Faso

Quizzes that include Burkina Faso

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

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

Read more about Burkina Faso

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Burkina Faso flag?

The flag of Burkina Faso is two horizontal bands, red over green, with a yellow five-pointed star in the centre. Red stands for the struggle for independence, green for hope and abundance, and the yellow star for the country's mineral wealth.

Which countries border Burkina Faso?

Burkina Faso shares land borders with Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

How can I remember the capital of Burkina Faso?

Say Ouagadougou as 'wah-gah-DOO-goo', and remember that locals shorten it to Ouaga. The name Burkina Faso means 'land of upright (honest) people'.