Eswatini
Name
| Official name | Kingdom of Eswatini — Umbuso weSwatini |
|---|---|
| Former name | Kingdom of Swaziland (1968–2018); the Swaziland Protectorate under Britain (1903–1968) — renamed by royal proclamation on 19 April 2018 |
| Demonym | Swazi; Emaswati; Liswati |
| Meaning of the name | "Land of the Swazis" — the nation named for King Mswati II, who reigned in the 1840s |
| Motto | "Siyinqaba" — we are a fortress; on the coat of arms |
Quick facts
| Capitals | Mbabane, the administrative capital, about 95,000; Lobamba, the royal and legislative capital, in the Ezulwini Valley |
|---|---|
| Largest cities | Manzini, about 110,000, the commercial center; Mbabane; Matsapha, the industrial town; Nhlangano; Siteki; Piggs Peak; Big Bend |
| Official languages | siSwati and English |
| Currency | Lilangeni — ISO code SZL, E; plural emalangeni; at par with the South African rand, also legal tender |
| Time zone | South Africa Standard Time, UTC+2, all year |
| Calling code | +268 |
| Internet domain | .sz — from the old name, kept |
| ISO 3166 codes | SZ · SWZ · 748 — unchanged by the renaming |
| Vehicle registration code | SD |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug type M — the South African three-pin |
| Independence | 6 September 1968, from the United Kingdom — Somhlolo Day |
| National days | 6 September, Independence Day; 19 April, the King's Birthday; 22 July, Birthday of the late King Sobhuza II; the Incwala, the first-fruits ceremony of December–January; the Umhlanga, the Reed Dance of August–September |
| Constitution | 8 February 2006 — signed by the King 26 July 2005, replacing the decree rule since 1973; the King above it in practice and immune under it |
| Population | 1,093,238 at the census of 2017; about 1.24 million (UN and CIA World Factbook, 2025 est.) |
| Area | 17,364 km² (6,704 sq mi) — land 17,204 km², water 160 km²; landlocked; among the smallest countries in Africa |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Horizontal bands of blue, yellow, crimson, yellow and blue — peace, the wealth of the land, the battles of the past — bearing a black-and-white Nguni shield of the Emasotsha regiment over two spears and a staff hung with feathers: the shield King Sobhuza II gave the Swazi pioneers in 1941; hoisted 25 April 1967 and adopted at independence, 6 September 1968.Flag of Eswatini |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms | The shield and spears of the flag under a crown of feathers — the lidlabe of the Incwala — supported by a lion for the King and an elephant for the Queen Mother, over the motto Siyinqaba; adopted 1968 |
| National anthem | "Nkulunkulu Mnikati wetibusiso temaSwati" ("O God, Bestower of the Blessings of the Swazi") — words by Andrease Enoke Fanyana Simelane, music by David Kenneth Rycroft; adopted 1968 |
| National motto | "Siyinqaba" |
| National colors | Blue, yellow and crimson |
| National animals | The lion, the King, and the elephant, the Queen Mother — the Ngwenyama and the Ndlovukati, the two heads of the nation |
| National bird | The purple-crested turaco — ligwalagwala — whose crimson flight feathers only royalty may wear; widely cited |
| National flower | None designated |
| National dish | Sishwala, the maize porridge; emasi, the sour milk; sitfubi; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by law; the lion and elephant by the arms and custom; the bird and dishes widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Southern Africa — landlocked, surrounded by South Africa on the north, west and south and by Mozambique on the east |
|---|---|
| Land borders | 546 km (339 mi) with two countries |
| Border with South Africa | 438 km (272 mi) |
| Border with Mozambique | 108 km (67 mi) — along the Lubombo Mountains |
| Coastline | None — landlocked; the sea 70 km away at Maputo |
| Highest point | Emlembe, 1,862 m (6,109 ft), on the western border |
| Lowest point | The Great Usutu River at the Mozambican border, 21 m (69 ft) |
| Mean elevation | 305 m (1,001 ft) |
| Rivers | The Great Usutu — Lusutfu — the largest, across the country to Mozambique; the Komati; the Mbuluzi; the Ngwavuma; the Maguga and Driekoppies dams on the Komati |
| Terrain | Four belts from west to east — the highveld, cool and hilly, with Mbabane and the forests; the middleveld of the farms and Manzini; the lowveld of the sugar estates and the game parks, hot and dry; the Lubombo plateau along the eastern border |
| Climate | Temperate in the highveld, subtropical in the lowveld; rains from October to March; drought in El Niño years |
| Natural hazards | Drought — the drought of 2015–16 the worst in decades; floods and storms — Cyclone Eloise 2021; wildfires |
| Natural resources | Coal at Maloma; asbestos, once, at Bulembu; diamonds; gold; quarry stone; timber; the hydropower of the Komati; the iron of Ngwenya, mined since the Stone Age and last in 2014 |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 68%; forest about 32% |
| National parks | Hlane Royal National Park, the largest, with the lions and rhinos; Mlilwane, the first, 1961; Mkhaya, for the black rhino; Malolotja in the highveld with the Ngwenya mine; Mbuluzi |
| UNESCO World Heritage | None inscribed — the Ngwenya mines on the tentative list |
| Administrative divisions | 4 regions — Hhohho with Mbabane, Manzini, Shiselweni and Lubombo; 59 tinkhundla, the traditional constituencies, and 385 chiefdoms |
People
| Population | 1,093,238 (census of 2017); about 1.24 million (2025 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 70 per km² (180 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | About 0.8% a year |
| Median age | About 24 years |
| Life expectancy | About 57 years — among the lowest in the world |
| Fertility rate | About 2.5 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 25% — most Emaswati live on Swazi Nation Land under the chiefs |
| Adult literacy | About 89% |
| Ethnic groups | Swazi about 97%; Zulu, Tsonga and other Africans; a few thousand of European and mixed descent |
| Languages | siSwati by nearly all — a Nguni language close to Zulu; English in government, school and business; Zulu, Tsonga and Afrikaans among some |
| Religion | Christian about 90% — Zionist churches about 40%, Roman Catholic about 20%, Protestant and evangelical; traditional beliefs woven through; Muslim about 2% |
| HIV | About 26% of adults living with HIV — the highest prevalence in the world — down from the peak of the 2000s; about 95% of those on treatment, among the best results in Africa |
| Human Development Index | 0.695 (2023 data, 2025 report) — medium; about 124th of 193 |
| The Reed Dance | The Umhlanga of August–September at Ludzidzini — tens of thousands of unmarried girls bring reeds to the Queen Mother and dance before the King; the Incwala of the summer solstice the sacred ceremony of kingship |
| Sport | Football — Sihlangu Semnikati; the Swazi cricket and rugby of the clubs; the King's Cup |
| Diaspora | In South Africa above all — the mines, the farms and the cities of Mpumalanga and Gauteng |
Government
| Form of government | Absolute monarchy under the Constitution of 2005 — the King head of state, of government in practice and of the armed forces, with the power to appoint and dismiss the prime minister, the cabinet, a share of both houses and the judges; political parties banned from elections since 1973 |
|---|---|
| Monarch | King Mswati III — Ngwenyama — since 25 April 1986; born Prince Makhosetive 19 April 1968, crowned at eighteen after the death of his father Sobhuza II in 1982 and the regency; sixteen wives and some 35 children; head of the House of Dlamini; the last absolute monarch in Africa and one of about a dozen left in the world |
| Queen Mother | Ntfombi Tfwala — the Ndlovukati, the She-Elephant — co-ruler by custom with the King, the guardian of the rain and the rituals; regent 1983–1986 |
| Prime Minister | Russell Mmiso Dlamini, since November 2023 — appointed by the King after the election of 29 September 2023 and the Sibaya of October; the head of the National Disaster Management Agency before; every prime minister since 1967 a Dlamini of the royal house |
| Parliament | The House of Assembly — 65 members, 55 elected by the tinkhundla for five years and 10 appointed by the King; the Senate — 30 members, 20 appointed by the King and 10 by the House; the last election 29 September 2023, the next due in 2028 |
| The Tinkhundla system | Elections without parties since the decree of 12 April 1973 that suspended the independence constitution — candidates stand as individuals in the 59 tinkhundla, chosen first at the chiefdoms; the Sibaya, the people's parliament called by the King, the traditional forum |
| The protests of 2021 | The largest in the kingdom's history, from June to July 2021, after the death of a law student in police custody — demands for a democratic constitution; the police and army fired live ammunition, killing scores by the count of rights groups, the government admitting 37; the internet cut; the pro-democracy members of parliament Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube jailed, sentenced to 25 and 18 years in 2023 |
| Thulani Maseko | The human rights lawyer and chairman of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, shot dead at his home on 21 January 2023 before his wife and children, hours after the King warned reformers that mercenaries would deal with them; no arrest by 2026 |
| The deportee agreement | A memorandum with the United States signed 14 May 2025 — the kingdom to accept up to 160 third-country nationals expelled by the U.S. in exchange for US$5.1 million for "border and migration management"; five deportees arrived in July 2025 and ten in October, from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, Yemen and elsewhere, held at the Matsapha maximum-security prison; the finance minister confirmed receipt of the money on 19 November 2025, deposited with the disaster agency; Human Rights Watch and others opposed the deal, and South Africa objected |
| Legal system | Roman-Dutch common law from South Africa beside Swazi customary law; the Supreme Court and the High Court; the traditional courts of the chiefs |
| Regions | 4, each under a regional administrator appointed by the King |
| United Nations | Member since 24 September 1968 |
| Memberships | The Southern African Development Community; the Southern African Customs Union, whose revenue funds much of the budget; the Common Monetary Area; the Commonwealth; the African Union; the only African state with diplomatic relations with Taiwan |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$5 billion (2025, IMF) |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$4,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$11,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4% a year (2024–25) |
| Economy by sector | Services about 55%, industry about 35%, agriculture about 9% — most people in subsistence farming on Nation Land |
| Currency | Lilangeni (SZL), at par with the rand |
| Sugar | The largest agricultural industry — the estates of the lowveld, the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation and Ubombo; about 600,000 metric tons a year, most of it to South Africa and the EU; a U.S. quota of 17,213 metric tons for fiscal 2026 |
| Soft-drink concentrate | The Coca-Cola concentrate plant at Matsapha since 1987 — the largest export by value, some 20% of the total |
| Other industry | Textiles and apparel for the U.S. market under AGOA, restored in 2018; wood pulp and timber from the highveld plantations; citrus; the Maloma coal mine; the King's conglomerate Tibiyo TakaNgwane across the economy |
| SACU | The revenue pool of the Southern African Customs Union — about 40% of government revenue, swinging with South Africa's trade |
| Unemployment | About 35% — and above 55% among the young; about 55% of the population below the poverty line |
| Public debt | About 40% of GDP; arrears to suppliers the chronic problem |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | King Mswati III International Airport at Sikhuphe, opened 2014 in the lowveld at a cost above US$250 million and little used; Matsapha, the old airport, for the military and charters |
|---|---|
| Airline | Eswatini Air, the national carrier relaunched in 2023, to Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Harare |
| Ports | None — landlocked; the trade through Maputo in Mozambique and Durban and Richards Bay in South Africa |
| Railways | About 300 km (190 mi) — Eswatini Railways, freight only, the Goba line to Maputo and the links to the South African network; a passenger service long gone |
| Roads | About 3,800 km (2,400 mi), about a third paved; the MR3 highway from the South African border through Mbabane and Manzini to the airport |
| The gateway | Ngwenya–Oshoek on the Johannesburg road, the busiest crossing; the country three hours by road from Johannesburg |
History in dates
| c. 40,000 BC | The Ngwenya mine worked for red ochre — the oldest known mine in the world |
|---|---|
| c. 1750 | Ngwane III leads the Dlamini across the Lubombo — the founding of the nation |
| 1840s | Mswati II, the greatest of the fighting kings, gives the nation its name |
| 1894 | The Transvaal takes the protectorate |
| 1903 | British rule after the Boer War |
| 1921 | Sobhuza II takes up his reign, begun as an infant in 1899 — 82 years on the throne |
| 1968 | Independence, 6 September |
| 1973 | The King repeals the constitution and bans the parties, 12 April |
| 1982 | Sobhuza II dies, 21 August; the regency |
| 1986 | Mswati III crowned, 25 April |
| 2005 | The Constitution signed, 26 July |
| 2018 | Swaziland becomes Eswatini, 19 April |
| 2021 | The pro-democracy protests, June–July |
| 2023 | Thulani Maseko killed, 21 January; the election of 29 September |
| 2025 | The deportee agreement with the United States, 14 May |
Records & firsts
| Africa's last absolute monarchy | King Mswati III, since 1986 |
|---|---|
| The longest reign ever verified | Sobhuza II, 82 years, 1899–1982 |
| The oldest mine in the world | Ngwenya, about 43,000 years |
| The highest rate of HIV | About a quarter of adults |
| A country renamed by its king | Eswatini, 19 April 2018 |
| Two capitals | Mbabane and Lobamba |
| The Reed Dance | Tens of thousands of maidens before the King each year |
| Sibebe | The largest exposed granite dome in the world, by the kingdom's claim |
| Taiwan's last friend in Africa | The only African state to recognize it |
| Sixteen queens | The King's wives in 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Eswatini the same country as Swaziland?
Yes. King Mswati III renamed the Kingdom of Swaziland the Kingdom of Eswatini on 19 April 2018, his fiftieth birthday and the fiftieth year of independence, restoring the country's name in its own language: eSwatini means "land of the Swazis." "Swaziland" was the English form used since the 19th century, and it lingers in speech, in search and in the older books; the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the maps changed over in 2018.
What is the official name of Eswatini?
The Kingdom of Eswatini — Umbuso weSwatini in siSwati — since 19 April 2018; the Kingdom of Swaziland from independence on 6 September 1968 to that day. The Swazi nation takes its name from Mswati II, the king who forged it in the 1840s; Sobhuza II, who reigned from 1899 to 1982, led it out of British protection, and his son Mswati III reigns now.
What is the capital of Eswatini?
Two of them. Mbabane, in the hills of the highveld, is the administrative capital, where the ministries sit, with about 95,000 people; Lobamba, 15 km away in the Ezulwini Valley, is the royal and legislative capital, the seat of the King, the Queen Mother, the Parliament and the royal kraal where the Incwala and the Reed Dance are held. Manzini in the center is the largest city and the commercial one, with about 110,000; Matsapha beside it is the industrial town.
How big is Eswatini, and how many people live there?
About 17,364 km² (6,704 sq mi) — one of the smallest countries in Africa, a little smaller than New Jersey and Kuwait, landlocked between South Africa, which surrounds it on three sides, and Mozambique. The census of 2017 counted 1,093,238 people; the UN and the CIA World Factbook estimate about 1.24 million for 2025. Life expectancy, about 57 years, is among the lowest in the world, for the country has the highest rate of HIV on earth, about a quarter of adults.
What are the highest and lowest points of Eswatini?
Emlembe, 1,862 m (6,109 ft), on the South African border in the northwest highveld; and the Great Usutu River where it leaves the country through the Lubombo Mountains toward Mozambique, at 21 m (69 ft). The country steps down from west to east through four belts: the highveld, the middleveld, the lowveld and the Lubombo escarpment.
What currency does Eswatini use?
The lilangeni (ISO code SZL, E; plural emalangeni), issued by the Central Bank of Eswatini since 1974 and fixed at par with the South African rand, which is legal tender in the country too — the Common Monetary Area with South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. Clocks keep South Africa Standard Time, UTC+2, all year. Eswatini drives on the left.
Who governs Eswatini?
King Mswati III — Ngwenyama, the Lion — Africa's last absolute monarch, on the throne since 25 April 1986, when he was crowned at eighteen. He appoints the prime minister, who by custom is always a Dlamini of the royal house, and Russell Dlamini has held the post since November 2023; he appoints ten of the 65 members of the House of Assembly and twenty of the thirty senators, and political parties have been banned from elections since 1973 under the Tinkhundla system, in which candidates stand as individuals. The protests of 2021 were put down with scores dead; the human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko was shot dead at home in January 2023; and in 2025 the kingdom agreed to take deportees from the United States for US$5.1 million. The next election is due in 2028.
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