Geography Quiz Arcade

Sierra Leone 🇸🇱

Sierra Leone is a country in Africa with a population of 8,605,718. Its capital is Freetown. The official currency is SLL, and the main languages are English.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Freetown
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 8,605,718
  • Area: 71,740 km²
  • Density: 120 people per km²
  • Currency: SLL
  • Languages: English
  • ISO code: SL

Where Sierra Leone sits

Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Freetown. It covers 71,740 square kilometres — 117th in the world — and is home to about 8,605,718 people, 102nd 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 Sierra Leone compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Sierra Leone sits closest to Switzerland and Togo. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Ireland and Georgia.

At 120 people per square kilometre it is about 2.0 times the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

English is an official language in 58 countries here, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas and Barbados, and 53 others. The SLL is used by Sierra Leone and no one else.

To see Sierra Leone 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 Sierra Leone

Freetown's name tells its story: the area was settled in 1787 by formerly enslaved people sent from London, and the city was founded in 1792. For the flag, read it from the hills down to the sea: green land, white, blue water.

The flag of Sierra Leone: green, white and blue

🇸🇱 The flag is three horizontal stripes of light green, white and light blue. Green stands for farming, the mountains and natural resources, white for unity and justice, and blue for the sea and the natural harbour at Freetown.

Region and neighbours

Sierra Leone is a country on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, between Guinea and Liberia. It shares land borders with 2 countries: Guinea and Liberia.

Three facts about Sierra Leone

  1. The country's name comes from the Lion Mountains near Freetown. A Portuguese explorer called them Serra Leoa ('lioness mountains') in 1462.
  2. Freetown's harbour is one of the largest natural deep-water harbours in the world.
  3. Sierra Leone became independent from the United Kingdom in 1961.

Sources: Wikipedia: Sierra Leone, Wikipedia: Flag of Sierra Leone, Wikipedia: Freetown, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Sierra Leone

Quizzes that include Sierra Leone

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

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Sierra Leone flag?

The flag of Sierra Leone is three horizontal stripes of light green, white and light blue. Green stands for farming, the mountains and natural resources, white for unity and justice, and blue for the sea and the natural harbour at Freetown.

Which countries border Sierra Leone?

Sierra Leone shares land borders with Guinea and Liberia.

How can I remember the capital of Sierra Leone?

Freetown's name tells its story: the area was settled in 1787 by formerly enslaved people sent from London, and the city was founded in 1792. For the flag, read it from the hills down to the sea: green land, white, blue water.