Guinea-Bissau
Name
| Official name | Republic of Guinea-Bissau — República da Guiné-Bissau |
|---|---|
| Not to be confused with | The Republic of Guinea — Guinea-Conakry — to the east and south; Equatorial Guinea; Papua New Guinea |
| Former names | Portuguese Guinea — Guiné Portuguesa (to 1973); the province of Guinea of the Cape Verde colony to 1879 |
| Demonym | Bissau-Guinean |
| Meaning of the name | The old name of the coast, with the capital's added at independence to tell it from Guinea; "Bissau" from the Papel kingdom of Bijagó tradition, the island's name |
| Motto | "Unidade, Luta, Progresso" — unity, struggle, progress |
Quick facts
| Capital | Bissau — founded 1687, the capital since 1941; about 500,000 |
|---|---|
| Other towns | Bafatá; Gabú; Bissorã; Bolama, the old capital; Cacheu; Canchungo; Bubaque in the Bijagós; Buba |
| Official language | Portuguese — spoken by about 15%; Crioulo, the Portuguese creole, the language of the nation and of about 90%; Balanta, Fula, Mandinka, Manjaco, Papel and some 20 others |
| Currency | West African CFA franc — ISO code XOF, F CFA; 655.957 to the euro; since 1997, replacing the peso |
| Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time, UTC±0, all year |
| Calling code | +245 |
| Internet domain | .gw |
| ISO 3166 codes | GW · GNB · 624 |
| Vehicle registration code | RGB |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 220 V, 50 Hz; plug type C |
| Independence | Declared 24 September 1973 at Madina do Boé; recognized by Portugal 10 September 1974 |
| National days | 24 September, Independence Day; 20 January, the death of Amílcar Cabral; 3 August, Pidjiguiti Martyrs' Day, for 1959; 8 March; the Muslim and Christian feasts; the Carnival of Bissau |
| Constitution | The Constitution of 1984 as revised in 1991, 1993 and 1996 — SUSPENDED by the junta in December 2025 and replaced by a transitional charter; a new constitution approved by the Transitional National Council and put to a referendum set for 30 August 2026 |
| Population | 1,449,230 at the census of 2009 — the last; about 2.2 million (UN, 2025 est.) |
| Area | 36,125 km² (13,948 sq mi) — land 28,120 km², water 8,005 km², the estuaries and the islands |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A red vertical band at the hoist bearing a black star, beside horizontal bands of yellow and green — the flag of the PAIGC in the colors of Ghana's, the star of African unity, the blood of the struggle, the sun and the forest; adopted at the declaration of independence, 24 September 1973.Flag of Guinea-Bissau |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms | A black star over a golden shell between two palm branches, on a red band bearing the motto — the emblem of the PAIGC and the shell of the coast; adopted 1973 |
| National anthem | "Esta É a Nossa Pátria Bem Amada" ("This Is Our Beloved Homeland") — words by Amílcar Cabral, music by Xiao He of China, 1962; adopted 1974; the anthem of Cape Verde too until 1996 |
| National motto | "Unidade, Luta, Progresso" |
| National colors | Red, yellow, green and black |
| National animal | None designated — the saltwater hippos of Orango and the manatees of the Bijagós widely cited |
| National dish | Caldo de chabéu — the palm-oil stew of fish or chicken; jollof; cashew apple wine and the cashew nut; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by law; the animal and dishes are widely cited, none designated |
Geography
| Location | West Africa on the Atlantic — between Senegal to the north and Guinea to the east and south; the Bijagós Archipelago off the coast |
|---|---|
| Land borders | 762 km (473 mi) with two countries |
| Border with Guinea | 421 km (262 mi) |
| Border with Senegal | 341 km (212 mi) — the Casamance border, with the rebels of the 1990s and 2000s |
| Coastline | 350 km (217 mi) — the estuaries and the islands |
| Highest point | An unnamed rise of about 300 m (984 ft) in the Boé hills of the northeast |
| Lowest point | The Atlantic Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 70 m (230 ft) |
| The Bijagós | 88 islands and islets, about 20 inhabited, 50 km off the coast — Bubaque, Bolama, Orango with its saltwater hippos, Caravela; a biosphere reserve since 1996 and a World Heritage site since 2025; the matrilineal Bijagó people and their sacred islands |
| Rivers | The Geba, whose estuary is 20 km wide at Bissau and tidal 150 km inland; the Corubal from the Fouta Djallon, the largest by flow; the Cacheu; the Mansoa; the Cumbijã |
| Terrain | A drowned coast of estuaries, mangroves and tidal flats; the low plain of the interior under savanna and forest; the Boé hills in the east; among the lowest countries in the world |
| Climate | Tropical — the wet season from June to November with about 2,000 mm on the coast; the dry season with the harmattan |
| Natural hazards | Floods and the salt in the rice paddies; drought; the sea rising over the lowest coast in Africa; the harmattan dust |
| Natural resources | Bauxite in the Boé, unmined; phosphates at Farim, unmined; oil offshore, sought since the 1960s and not produced; fish; timber; the cashew trees |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 58%; forest about 55% by the wide count of the mangroves and woodland |
| National parks | The Orango National Park of the hippos; João Vieira and Poilão marine park, the turtle beaches; the Cacheu River mangroves; Cantanhez in the south, the forest of the chimpanzees; the Cufada lagoons |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 1 — the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems of the Bijagós Archipelago, Omatí Minhô (2025), the country's first |
| Administrative divisions | 8 regions — Bafatá, Biombo, Bolama-Bijagós, Cacheu, Gabú, Oio, Quinara and Tombali — and the autonomous sector of Bissau; 37 sectors |
People
| Population | 1,449,230 (census of 2009); about 2.2 million (2025 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 60 per km² (155 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | About 2.2% a year |
| Median age | About 19 years |
| Life expectancy | About 62 years |
| Fertility rate | About 4 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 45% |
| Adult literacy | About 55% |
| Ethnic groups | Balanta about 30%, the rice farmers of the coast; Fula about 30%, in the east; Manjaco about 14%; Mandinka about 13%; Papel about 7%, around Bissau; the Bijagó, Mancanha, Felupe, Nalu and others; a small Cape Verdean and Portuguese minority |
| Languages | Crioulo — Kriol — the lingua franca of about 90%, the language of the markets and the radio; Portuguese in school and the state; Balanta, Fula, Mandinka, Manjaco, Papel; French and English among the traders |
| Religion | Muslim about 46%, in the east and among the Fula and Mandinka; traditional beliefs about 31%, the Balanta, Bijagó and Papel; Christian about 22%, Catholic above all, on the coast |
| Human Development Index | 0.514 (2023 data, 2025 report) — low; about 174th of 193 |
| Poverty | About two-thirds of the population below the poverty line; among the poorest countries in the world by income; a child in eight dead before five |
| Sport | Football — the Djurtus, at the Africa Cup of Nations of 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2024, never past the group; the Bissau derby; the wrestling of the villages |
| Diaspora | Some 200,000 abroad — in Portugal, Senegal, France, Spain and Cape Verde |
Government
| Form of government | A military transition since 26 November 2025 — the High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order, under a transitional charter of December 2025 with the constitution suspended; before it, a semi-presidential republic under the Constitution of 1984 as revised, whose presidents and parliaments fought each other from 1994 to 2025 |
|---|---|
| Transitional President | General Horta Inta-A Na Man — Horta N'Tam — since 27 November 2025, sworn in at the army headquarters a day after the coup for a one-year term; the army chief of staff since 2024, close to the deposed president by the accounts of the day; barred by the junta's own charter from standing in the election that ends the transition |
| Prime Minister | Ilídio Vieira Té (Party for Social Renewal), since December 2025 — the finance minister of the deposed government, kept on by the junta |
| The election and the coup | The general election of 23 November 2025 — President Embaló seeking re-election against Fernando Dias of the PRS, backed by the barred PAIGC; both claimed victory on 25 November, and tally sheets leaked to the press gave Dias about 49% to Embaló's 48%; on 26 November, a day before the commission's results, Brigadier General Dinis N'Canha announced "total control," the soldiers seized the electoral commission's records and computers, and the results were never published; Embaló, who told France 24 "I have been deposed," was flown to Senegal and on to Congo-Brazzaville; Dias took refuge in the Nigerian embassy for two months; the PAIGC leader Domingos Simões Pereira was arrested and released to house arrest on 30 January 2026; the opposition called the coup a fabrication staged to avoid defeat, the army called it a response to a plot, and Freedom House and the analysts have noted the leaked tallies and the timing |
| The transition | The charter of December 2025 for one year; the Transitional National Council of 66 — 15 from the military, 20 from the parties, 11 from civil society, 10 named by the president, 9 from the regions, and its speaker; the elected leaders' refusal to join the transitional government; the referendum on a new constitution, drafted by the council and expanding the presidency, set for 30 August 2026 after the announcement of 6 July; the presidential and legislative elections set for 6 December 2026 |
| ECOWAS and the AU | Both condemned the coup on 27 November 2025 and demanded the release of the detainees; ECOWAS's missions of December and the threat of targeted sanctions; the junta's demand that the ECOWAS stabilization force leave; the easing of January 2026; the country suspended from the bloc's decision-making bodies |
| The record of coups | The coup of 14 November 1980, the civil war of 1998–99, the coups of 2003 and 12 April 2012, the assassination of President Vieira on 2 March 2009 and of his army chief the night before; the attempts of 1 February 2022 and 1 December 2023; the coup of 26 November 2025 — no elected president has completed a full term, and the army has never been brought under civilian control |
| The narco-state | The transit point of South American cocaine to Europe since the 2000s, through the unguarded islands and airstrips — the "narco-state" of the UN's description in 2008, the U.S. indictment of the navy chief in 2013, the seizures of 2019 and 2022 with the officers untouched |
| Legal system | Civil law on the Portuguese model with customary law; the Supreme Court of Justice; the courts weak and unpaid |
| Regions | 8 and Bissau under governors; the Bijagós with their kings and queens |
| United Nations | Member since 17 September 1974; the UN peacebuilding office of 1999–2020 |
| Regional memberships | ECOWAS, suspended from its bodies since the coup; the West African Economic and Monetary Union; the Community of Portuguese Language Countries; the African Union; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$2.2 billion (2025, IMF) |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$1,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$2,500 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 5% a year (2023–25) — on the cashew harvest and its price |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture about 45% and the livelihood of most; services about 40%; industry about 13% |
| Currency | West African CFA franc (XOF) |
| Cashews | About 90% of exports and the income of most families — some 200,000 metric tons of raw nuts a year, the sixth or seventh producer in the world, shipped to India and Vietnam for processing; the season from April to June the whole economy; the price set by the state each spring |
| Fishing | The licenses sold to the EU, China and Senegal for the rich waters of the shelf — the second income of the state; the fish taken away, little landed |
| Rice | The staple, grown by the Balanta in the reclaimed mangrove paddies and still imported — the cashews traded for it |
| Public finances | A budget about US$500 million, a third of it from abroad; public debt about 80% of GDP; the IMF program suspended by the coup; the salaries in arrears |
| Cocaine | The unrecorded economy — the transit fees of the traffickers reckoned larger than the state's budget in some years |
| Income classification | Low income (World Bank); a least developed country |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Osvaldo Vieira International Airport, Bissau; the airstrips of Bubaque and the islands |
|---|---|
| Airline | No national carrier; TAP Air Portugal, Royal Air Maroc, Air Senegal and ASKY |
| Main port | Bissau, on the Geba — the Pidjiguiti docks; Buba and Cacheu |
| Railways | None |
| Roads | About 4,400 km (2,700 mi), about a tenth paved; the road from Bissau to Bafatá, Gabú and the Guinean border; the causeway to São Vicente |
| The islands | The ferries and boats to Bubaque and Bolama; the canoes of the Bijagós |
History in dates
| c. 1537 | The Kaabu Empire of the Mandinka — to its fall to the Fula in 1867 |
|---|---|
| 1446 | Nuno Tristão reaches the coast for Portugal |
| 1687 | The fort of Bissau |
| 1879 | Portuguese Guinea a colony of its own, parted from Cape Verde |
| 1936 | The "pacification" of the Bijagós completed |
| 1956 | Amílcar Cabral founds the PAIGC, 19 September |
| 1959 | The Pidjiguiti massacre, 3 August |
| 1963 | The war of independence begins, 23 January |
| 1973 | Cabral assassinated in Conakry, 20 January; independence declared at Madina do Boé, 24 September |
| 1974 | Portugal recognizes independence, 10 September |
| 1980 | João Bernardo Vieira's coup, 14 November |
| 1994 | The first multiparty election |
| 1998–1999 | The civil war; Vieira ousted |
| 2003 | The coup of 14 September |
| 2009 | Vieira assassinated, 2 March |
| 2012 | The coup of 12 April |
| 2020 | Umaro Sissoco Embaló takes the presidency, 27 February |
| 2022 | The attempted coup of 1 February |
| 2023 | The attempt of 1 December; parliament dissolved, 4 December |
| 2025 | The Bijagós inscribed, July; the election, 23 November; the coup, 26 November; Horta sworn in, 27 November |
| 2026 | The referendum set for 30 August; the election set for 6 December |
Records & firsts
| No elected president has finished a term | Since 1994 |
|---|---|
| The narco-state | The UN's word of 2008 |
| The first unilateral independence in the Portuguese empire | Madina do Boé, 24 September 1973 |
| Among the lowest countries on earth | Most of it under 50 m |
| The saltwater hippos | Orango, in the Bijagós |
| Eighty-eight islands | And a World Heritage site since 2025 |
| A cashew economy | About 90% of exports |
| An anthem shared with another country | With Cape Verde, to 1996 |
| A creole nation | Crioulo the tongue of nine in ten |
| Amílcar Cabral | The theorist of African liberation, killed eight months before the independence he declared |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Guinea-Bissau?
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau — República da Guiné-Bissau — the name taken at independence to tell it from the Republic of Guinea next door, by adding the capital's: Portuguese Guinea before 1973, and the smallest and poorest of the four Guineas, with Equatorial Guinea and Papua New Guinea the others. Its fighters declared independence in the bush at Madina do Boé on 24 September 1973, the first unilateral declaration in Portugal's empire, and Portugal recognized it on 10 September 1974 after the Carnation Revolution.
What is the capital of Guinea-Bissau?
Bissau, on the Geba estuary — the Portuguese fort of 1687, the capital since 1941, when it replaced Bolama on its island, with about 500,000 people, a quarter of the country, in a low city of colonial ruins and the Pidjiguiti docks where the strike of 1959 was shot down. Bafatá, the birthplace of Amílcar Cabral, Gabú in the east, Bissorã and Cacheu are the towns; Bubaque the capital of the Bijagós.
How big is Guinea-Bissau, and how many people live there?
About 36,125 km² (13,948 sq mi) — a little larger than Maryland, about the size of Taiwan — of which 8,005 km² is water, the drowned estuaries of the Geba, the Cacheu and the Corubal that reach 100 km inland and the Bijagós Archipelago of 88 islands off the coast. The last census, in 2009, counted 1,449,230 people; the UN estimates about 2.2 million for 2025, a nation of the young, half under 18, and of thirty peoples speaking Crioulo among themselves.
What are the highest and lowest points of Guinea-Bissau?
An unnamed rise of about 300 m (984 ft) in the Boé hills of the northeast, near the Guinean border, where the Fouta Djallon runs out — the country is among the flattest and lowest-lying in Africa, most of it under 50 m — and the Atlantic, which comes far up the rivers with the tide and would take a tenth of the land in the century's rising seas.
What currency does Guinea-Bissau use?
The West African CFA franc (ISO code XOF), since the country joined the West African monetary union in 1997 in place of its peso — shared with Senegal, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo and Benin and fixed at 655.957 to the euro, issued by the Central Bank of West African States at Dakar. Clocks keep Greenwich Mean Time, UTC±0, all year.
Who governs Guinea-Bissau?
A military junta. On 26 November 2025, a day before the results of the presidential election of 23 November were to be announced — with both President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and his challenger Fernando Dias claiming victory, and the leaked tallies favoring Dias — soldiers seized the electoral commission and the presidency, and on 27 November the army chief, General Horta Inta-A Na Man, was sworn in as transitional president for a year; the opposition called the coup staged by Embaló to escape defeat, which the army denied. The constitution is suspended under a charter of December 2025, Ilídio Vieira Té is prime minister, a Transitional National Council of 66 stands in for parliament, and a general election is set for 6 December 2026, with a referendum on a new constitution set for 30 August 2026. ECOWAS and the African Union condemned the coup; no elected president has ever completed a term.
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