Geography Quiz Arcade

Ivory Coast 🇨🇮

Ivory Coast is a country in Africa with a population of 28,160,542. Its capital is Yamoussoukro. The official currency is XOF, and the main languages are French.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Yamoussoukro
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 28,160,542
  • Area: 322,463 km²
  • Density: 87.3 people per km²
  • Currency: XOF
  • Languages: French
  • ISO code: CI

Where Ivory Coast sits

Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Yamoussoukro. It covers 322,463 square kilometres — 68th in the world — and is home to about 28,160,542 people, 52nd 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 Ivory Coast compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Ivory Coast sits closest to Venezuela and Cameroon. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Malaysia and Vietnam.

At 87.3 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, Burkina Faso and Burundi, and 25 others. The XOF is shared with 7 other countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso and Guinea-Bissau, and 4 others.

To see Ivory Coast 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 Ivory Coast

The capital is Yamoussoukro, which became the legal capital in 1983, not Abidjan, the old capital and largest city. For the flag, it is Ireland's flag turned around: Ireland puts green at the flagpole, Ivory Coast puts orange there.

The flag of Ivory Coast: orange, white and green

🇨🇮 The flag is three vertical stripes of orange, white and green. Orange stands for the savannah and fertility, white for peace and unity, and green for the forests of the south and the hope for a bright future.

Region and neighbours

Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with 5 countries: Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

Three facts about Ivory Coast

  1. As of 2023, Ivory Coast is the world's largest exporter of cocoa beans.
  2. The country's official name is the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, which is French for Ivory Coast.
  3. Yamoussoukro's Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is the largest Christian church in the world.

Sources: Wikipedia: Ivory Coast, Wikipedia: Flag of Ivory Coast, Wikipedia: Yamoussoukro, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Ivory Coast

Quizzes that include Ivory Coast

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Ivory Coast 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 Ivory Coast

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Ivory Coast flag?

The flag of Ivory Coast is three vertical stripes of orange, white and green. Orange stands for the savannah and fertility, white for peace and unity, and green for the forests of the south and the hope for a bright future.

Which countries border Ivory Coast?

Ivory Coast shares land borders with Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

How can I remember the capital of Ivory Coast?

The capital is Yamoussoukro, which became the legal capital in 1983, not Abidjan, the old capital and largest city. For the flag, it is Ireland's flag turned around: Ireland puts green at the flagpole, Ivory Coast puts orange there.