Senegal 🇸🇳

Senegal is a country in Africa with a population of 17,316,449. Its capital is Dakar. The official currency is XOF, and the main languages are French.

Quick facts

Capital: Dakar
Continent: Africa
Population: 17,316,449
Area: 196,722 km²
Density: 88.0 people per km²
Currency: XOF
Languages: French
ISO code: SN

Where Senegal sits

Senegal 🇸🇳 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Dakar. It covers 196,722 square kilometres — 86th in the world — and is home to about 17,316,449 people, 72nd 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 Senegal compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Senegal sits closest to Netherlands and Somalia. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Kyrgyzstan and Belarus.

At 88.0 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 Senegal 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 Senegal

D for Dakar, D for 'Dot on the end': Dakar is on the Cap-Vert peninsula, the bump that pokes furthest west out of Africa into the Atlantic. For the flag, Senegal is the green-yellow-red tricolour with a green star in the middle; Mali's has no star.

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

🇸🇳 The flag is three vertical stripes of green, yellow and red with a green five-pointed star in the centre. These are the Pan-African colours shared by many African flags. Green stands for Islam, progress and hope, yellow for natural wealth and progress, red for sacrifice and determination, and the star for unity and hope.

Region and neighbours

Senegal is the westernmost country of mainland Africa, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa. It shares land borders with 5 countries: Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia.

Mauritania 🇲🇷 — capital Nouakchott
Mali 🇲🇱 — capital Bamako
Guinea 🇬🇳 — capital Conakry
Guinea-Bissau 🇬🇼 — capital Bissau
Gambia 🇬🇲 — capital Banjul

Three facts about Senegal

Dakar is on the Cap-Vert peninsula, the westernmost point of mainland Africa.
Senegal almost completely surrounds The Gambia, which follows the Gambia River inland from the coast.
Gorée Island, just off Dakar, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a place of remembrance for the Atlantic slave trade.

Sources: Wikipedia: Senegal, Wikipedia: Flag of Senegal, Wikipedia: Dakar, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Senegal

African capitals quiz — match Senegal to Dakar
African flags quiz — spot the Senegal flag among its neighbours

Quizzes that include Senegal

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

Africa map quiz — place it on a blank map
Africa flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
Africa capitals quiz — match it to Dakar
Senegal capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Senegal
Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

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

Nearby countries

Algeria 🇩🇿 — capital Algiers
Angola 🇦🇴 — capital Luanda
Benin 🇧🇯 — capital Porto-Novo
Botswana 🇧🇼 — capital Gaborone
Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 — capital Ouagadougou
Burundi 🇧🇮 — capital Gitega
Cabo Verde 🇨🇻 — capital Praia
Cameroon 🇨🇲 — capital Yaoundé
Central African Republic 🇨🇫 — capital Bangui
Chad 🇹🇩 — capital N'Djamena
Comoros 🇰🇲 — capital Moroni
Congo 🇨🇬 — capital Brazzaville

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Senegal flag?

The flag of Senegal is three vertical stripes of green, yellow and red with a green five-pointed star in the centre. These are the Pan-African colours shared by many African flags. Green stands for Islam, progress and hope, yellow for natural wealth and progress, red for sacrifice and determination, and the star for unity and hope.

Which countries border Senegal?

Senegal shares land borders with Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia.