Liberia
Name
| Official name | Republic of Liberia |
|---|---|
| Former names | The Grain Coast, or Pepper Coast, of the malagueta pepper (to 1822); the Commonwealth of Liberia of the American Colonization Society (1839–1847); Maryland in Liberia, the separate colony joined in 1857 |
| Demonym | Liberian |
| Meaning of the name | "The land of the free" — from the Latin liber, for the freed slaves who settled it |
| Motto | "The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here" — on the arms since 1847; the settlers' words, and the sore of the sixteen peoples who were already here |
Quick facts
| Capital | Monrovia — founded 1822, named 1824 for James Monroe; about 1.5 million in Greater Monrovia, a third of the nation |
|---|---|
| Largest towns | Monrovia with Paynesville; Gbarnga, about 60,000; Kakata; Buchanan; Ganta; Zwedru; Harper; Voinjama; Tubmanburg |
| Official language | English — spoken as a first language by a fifth, and as Liberian English, the Kreyol, by most; some 20 Indigenous languages — Kpelle, Bassa, Grebo, Gio, Kru, Mano, Loma, Vai, whose syllabary of the 1830s is one of Africa's own scripts |
| Currency | Liberian dollar — ISO code LRD, L$; about 200 to the U.S. dollar; and the U.S. dollar, legal tender beside it |
| Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time, UTC±0, all year |
| Calling code | +231 |
| Internet domain | .lr |
| ISO 3166 codes | LR · LBR · 430 |
| Vehicle registration code | LB |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 120 V, 60 Hz; plug types A and B — the American standard, and the power itself for a fifth of the people |
| Independence | 26 July 1847 — the declaration of the settlers' republic, Joseph Jenkins Roberts the first president; recognized by Britain in 1848 and by the United States only in 1862 |
| National days | 26 July, Independence Day; 7 January, Pioneers' Day, for the landing of 1822; 15 March, J.J. Roberts' Birthday; 11 April, Fast and Prayer Day; 14 May, National Unification Day; 1 August, Flag Day, until 2024; the first Friday of November, Thanksgiving, the American feast kept; 24 August, Flag Day since |
| Constitution | 6 January 1986 — the Constitution of the Second Republic, approved by referendum in 1984 after the Doe coup, replacing the constitution of 1847, the oldest in Africa, suspended in 1980; the president for six years, twice; the referendum of 2020 rejecting the shorter terms |
| Population | 5,248,621 at the census of 2022 — the first since 2008; about 5.7 million (UN, 2025 est.) |
| Area | 111,369 km² (43,000 sq mi) — land 96,320 km², water 15,049 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Eleven horizontal stripes of red and white — the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence — with a single white star on a blue square at the hoist, the Lone Star, for the first independent republic of Africa, in the pattern of the American flag the settlers had left; designed by a committee of seven women led by Susannah Lewis and adopted 26 July 1847.Flag of Liberia |
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| Coat of arms | A shield showing a 19th-century sailing ship arriving at the shore, a rising sun over the sea, a plow and a spade, a palm tree and a white dove bearing a scroll — the settlers' arrival, the labor of the land and the peace — over the motto and the name of the republic; adopted 1847 |
| National anthem | "All Hail, Liberia, Hail!" — words by Daniel Bashiel Warner, the third president, music by Olmstead Luca; adopted 1847 |
| National motto | "The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here" |
| National colors | Red, white and blue |
| National bird | The pepper bird — the common bulbul, whose song wakes the country at dawn; the pepper for the old name of the coast; widely cited as the national bird |
| National animal | The pygmy hippopotamus — of the Sapo forest, found nowhere else but the neighbors' forests; the lion of the arms of old; widely cited |
| National tree | The oil palm of the arms; the rubber tree of the plantations; the ironwood of the forest |
| National dish | Rice with palm butter or cassava leaf and the pepper soup; dumboy, the pounded cassava; jollof rice; the "GB" of the Kru coast; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms, anthem and motto are fixed by the Constitution and the acts of 1847; the bird, animal, tree and dishes widely cited, none designated |
Geography
| Location | West Africa on the Atlantic — between Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the north and Côte d'Ivoire to the east; the Pepper Coast of the old maps |
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| Land borders | 1,667 km (1,036 mi) with three countries — Côte d'Ivoire 778, the Cavalla; Guinea 590; Sierra Leone 299, the Mano River |
| Coastline | 579 km (360 mi) — the beaches and the mangroves from the Mano to the Cavalla |
| Highest point | Mount Wuteve, 1,447 m (4,747 ft), in the Wologizi range of Lofa |
| Lowest point | The Atlantic Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 243 m (797 ft) |
| Rivers | The Cavalla, 515 km, the longest, the Ivorian border; the Saint Paul, 500 km, from Guinea past Monrovia, dammed at Mount Coffee; the Lofa; the Saint John, the river of Buchanan; the Cestos; the Mano on the Sierra Leone border; the Farmington and the Du of the Firestone plantation |
| Lakes | Lake Piso, the lagoon of Robertsport, 103 km², the largest; Lake Shepherd of Harper |
| Terrain | The coastal plain of lagoons, mangroves and beaches, 50 km deep; the rolling hills of the interior under rainforest; the Nimba and Wologizi mountains of the north; the forest over more than half the land, the largest remnant of the Upper Guinea rainforest |
| Climate | Tropical — hot and humid, the rains from May to October with Monrovia the wettest capital on earth at about 5,100 mm; the dry season with the harmattan of December and January |
| Natural hazards | The floods of the rains, Monrovia's streets under water each August; the dust of the harmattan; the erosion of the coast at West Point; the Ebola epidemic of 2014–16, the worst in history — about 10,700 infected and 4,800 dead in Liberia of the 11,300 across the three countries |
| Natural resources | Iron ore of the Nimba and Bong ranges, mined since 1951; rubber on the largest plantations in the world; gold and diamonds; timber, cut and banned and cut again; the palm oil of the concessions; the hydropower of the Saint Paul; the fish |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 28%; forest about 43% by the Factbook and more by the country's own count — about 40% of the Upper Guinea forest that remains |
| National parks | Sapo National Park of 1983, 1,800 km², the country's largest and the rainforest's heart, the pygmy hippos, forest elephants and chimpanzees; the Nimba nature reserve; the Gola forest park of 2016 with Sierra Leone; the Grebo-Krahn park of 2017 on the Ivorian border; Lake Piso |
| UNESCO World Heritage | None inscribed — the Providence Island of the landing and the Nimba mountains on the tentative list, the Guinean and Ivorian Nimba a site since 1981 |
| Administrative divisions | 15 counties — Montserrado with the capital, Nimba, Bong, Lofa, Grand Bassa, Margibi, Maryland, Grand Gedeh, Sinoe, Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Gbarpolu, River Cess, River Gee and Grand Kru — under superintendents appointed by the president; the districts, the clans and the chiefdoms |
People
| Population | 5,248,621 (census of 2022); about 5.7 million (2025 est.) |
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| Population density | About 55 per km² (140 per sq mi) — a third in Greater Monrovia |
| Population growth | About 2.1% a year |
| Median age | About 19 years |
| Life expectancy | About 62 years |
| Fertility rate | About 4 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 54% |
| Adult literacy | About 48% — among the lowest in the world, the schools closed by the wars |
| Ethnic groups | Kpelle about 20%, of Bong and the center; Bassa about 13%, of Grand Bassa; Grebo about 10%, of the southeast; Gio and Mano of Nimba, about 8% each; Kru of the coast; Lorma, Kissi, Gola, Krahn, Vai, Mandingo, Mende, Gbandi, Dei, Belleh — the sixteen recognized peoples; the Americo-Liberians and the Congo people, the descendants of the settlers and of the recaptured Africans, about 3%; Lebanese and Indians in the trade, barred from citizenship by the Constitution's "Negro clause" |
| Languages | English official; Liberian Kreyol, the English of the streets, by most; Kpelle, Bassa, Grebo, Gio, Kru and the rest; the Vai script of 1833, invented by Momolu Duwalu Bukele, still taught |
| Religion | Christian about 86% — Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic and the Pentecostal churches of the Americo-Liberian founding and the missions; Muslim about 12%, the Mandingo and Vai; the Poro and Sande societies of the forest beneath both (census of 2008 and 2022) |
| Human Development Index | 0.510 (2023 data, 2025 report) — low; about 176th of 193 |
| The wars | The two civil wars of 24 December 1989 to 1996 and 1999 to 18 August 2003 — Charles Taylor's invasion from Côte d'Ivoire, the killing of Samuel Doe on 9 September 1990, the warlords and the child soldiers, the siege of Monrovia of 2003; about 250,000 dead by the accepted count, a tenth of the people, and half the country displaced; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2006–09 naming the culprits, its recommendations unmet until the court of 2026; Taylor convicted at The Hague in 2012 for Sierra Leone, not Liberia |
| Sport | Football — George Weah, the FIFA World Player of 1995 and the Ballon d'Or, the only African to win it, and later the president; the Lone Star never at a World Cup; the Liberia Football Association's league; kickball of the schoolgirls, the national game of the women |
| Diaspora | About 500,000 Liberians abroad — in the United States, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Providence above all, the refugees of the wars under protected status since 1991; Ghana, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire; the remittances a fifth of the economy |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1986, on the American model — the president head of state and government for six years, twice; the Legislature of two houses; the Supreme Court; the counties under appointed superintendents |
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| President | Joseph Nyuma Boakai (Unity Party), since 22 January 2024 — the 26th; the vice president of 2006–18 under Sirleaf, agriculture minister of the 1980s, born 30 November 1944 at Warsonga in Lofa, the oldest to take the office at 79; elected in the runoff of 14 November 2023 with 50.64% and 814,481 votes against George Weah's 49.36%, a margin of 20,000, after 43.8% to 43.4% in the first round of 10 October; Weah's concession and the transfer the model of the region; the ARREST agenda of agriculture, roads, rule of law, education, sanitation and tourism; his health the opposition's question |
| Vice President | Jeremiah Kpan Koung (Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction), since 22 January 2024 — a senator for Nimba, born 1978, the ally of the late Prince Johnson, the warlord-senator who died in November 2024 |
| The Security Council | Liberia elected to a non-permanent seat on 3 June 2025 with 181 votes and seated 1 January 2026 for 2026–27, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Africa — "unlike our partial term in 1961," Boakai said, the first full term of the state that signed the Charter at San Francisco; "the nameplate will read Liberia, the seat belongs to Africa"; the reform of the Council and the permanent African seats the cause; Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti |
| The war crimes court | The War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia — promised in Boakai's inaugural of 2024, the executive order of 2 May 2024 and the office of 2025, the draft law completed by January 2026 and the bill submitted to the Legislature in May 2026, with the resources and the international support sought; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's list of 2009 including sitting senators; "reconciliation does not mean forgetting," the president told the Legislature in January 2026; Human Rights Watch's "momentum — and risks" |
| Parliament | The Legislature — the House of Representatives of 73 members elected for six years by district; the Senate of 30, two from each county for nine years, half at a time; the Unity Party without a majority, the coalitions of the counties; Richard Koon the Speaker after the leadership war of 2024–25 |
| The next election | The presidential and legislative elections due 12 October 2029 — Boakai eligible for a second term |
| The peaceful transfers | The election of 2005 that made Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the first woman elected head of state in Africa, president 2006–18 and Nobel Peace laureate of 2011; the transfer to George Weah on 22 January 2018, the first from one elected president to another since 1944; Weah's six years, the scandals and the concession of 2023 the second such transfer; the elections run by the National Elections Commission since the UN mission left in 2018 |
| The Doe decade | The coup of 12 April 1980 — Master Sergeant Samuel Doe's soldiers killing President William Tolbert and ending 133 years of Americo-Liberian rule, the thirteen ministers shot on the beach on 22 April; the election of 1985 rigged; the Krahn state; Doe's torture and killing by Prince Johnson's men on 9 September 1990, filmed; the wars that followed |
| Legal system | Common law on the American model with customary law; the Supreme Court of five; the circuit courts of the counties; the "Negro clause" of the Constitution limiting citizenship to people of Black descent; the dual citizenship allowed since 2022; the death penalty on the books |
| Counties | 15 under superintendents appointed by the president; the paramount chiefs and the traditional councils; the county development funds |
| The United States | The founding by the Colonization Society and the recognition delayed to 1862; the Firestone concession of 1926 and the Roberts Field and the Freeport of the war; the Cold War listening posts; the aid and the refugees; the sanctions on the Taylor circle; the Millennium Challenge compact of 2016–21; the protected status of the Liberians in America since 1991 and its ending; the "little America" of the old order |
| United Nations | A founding member, 2 November 1945; UNMIL, the peacekeeping mission of 2003–18 with 15,000 troops at its peak, the UN's success; the Security Council seat of 2026–27; the Ebola response of 2014 |
| Memberships | ECOWAS, a founder in 1975 at Lagos; the Mano River Union of 1973 with Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire; the African Union; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation as an observer; the WTO since 2016 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$5 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$900 (2025) — among the lowest in the world |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$2,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 5% a year (2024–25) — the iron ore and the gold; inflation down to about 8% from the 30% of 2019; the reserves rebuilt above three months of imports; the IMF facility of 2024 |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture about 35% — the rubber, the palm and the rice — services about 45%, industry about 15%, the mines most of it |
| Currency | Liberian dollar (LRD) and the U.S. dollar |
| Iron ore | The largest export — ArcelorMittal's mines of the Nimba range at Yekepa, shipped by rail to Buchanan, the concession of 2005 and the expansion of 2024–26 toward 15 million metric tons a year; the Bong mine of the Chinese; the ore that made the country, LAMCO of the 1960s |
| Rubber | Firestone's plantation at Harbel on the Farmington, leased in 1926 for 99 years at six cents an acre — a million acres, the largest rubber plantation in the world; the smallholders beside it; Bridgestone's since 1988; about a tenth of exports |
| The ship registry | The Liberian flag — the open registry of 1948, the second-largest in the world by tonnage after Panama with some 5,000 ships and a fifth of the world's fleet, run from Virginia by the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry; about US$20 million a year to the state; the flag of convenience of the tankers |
| Other exports | Gold, the Bea Mountain mine of the Turks and the artisanal diggers; diamonds under the Kimberley Process since the blood diamonds of Taylor; palm oil of Golden Veroleum and Sime Darby, the concessions of the 2010s; timber; cocoa |
| Remittances and aid | Remittances about US$500 million a year, about a tenth of GDP, from the Americans; the aid of the United States, the World Bank and the EU, about a third of the budget; the American cuts of 2025 |
| Public finances | Public debt about 55% of GDP; the budget of about US$850 million; the arrears to the World Bank of November 2023 cleared; the salaries of the civil service the largest line |
| Income classification | Low income (World Bank); a least developed country |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Roberts International Airport at Harbel, 60 km from Monrovia — the American airfield of 1942 beside the Firestone plantation; Spriggs Payne in the city for the small planes |
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| Airline | None — Air Liberia gone by 1990; Brussels Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Kenya Airways, ASKY and Air Côte d'Ivoire |
| Main ports | The Freeport of Monrovia on Bushrod Island, built by the Americans in 1948; Buchanan, the iron ore port of the railway; Greenville; Harper |
| Railways | About 430 km (267 mi) of mining lines — the Yekepa–Buchanan line of 1963 for the Nimba ore, 267 km, run by ArcelorMittal and disputed with the Guinean ore of the Simandou neighbors; the Bong Mine railway to Monrovia; no passenger service |
| Roads | About 10,000 km (6,200 mi), about 7% paved — the coastal road, the Monrovia–Ganta highway to Guinea, the roads of Nimba; the rains that close the rest; the "yellow machines" of the president's road program |
| The plantation | The Firestone road to Harbel and the airport, the company town of the rubber |
History in dates
| c. 1461 | The Portuguese name the Grain Coast for the pepper |
|---|---|
| 1816 | The American Colonization Society founded |
| 1822 | The first settlers land on Providence Island, 7 January |
| 1824 | Monrovia named for James Monroe |
| 1847 | Independence declared, 26 July — Joseph Jenkins Roberts president |
| 1862 | The United States recognizes Liberia, 5 February |
| 1926 | The Firestone concession, 99 years |
| 1944 | William Tubman president — to 1971 |
| 1951 | Iron ore mined at Bomi Hills |
| 1980 | The Doe coup, 12 April — Tolbert killed |
| 1985 | The rigged election; the failed Quiwonkpa coup, 12 November |
| 1989 | Taylor's invasion from Nimba, 24 December — the first civil war |
| 1990 | Doe killed, 9 September; ECOMOG |
| 1997 | Taylor elected, 19 July |
| 1999 | The second civil war |
| 2003 | Taylor leaves for Nigeria, 11 August; the Accra peace, 18 August; UNMIL |
| 2005 | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected, 8 November — the first woman |
| 2011 | Sirleaf's Nobel Peace Prize |
| 2012 | Taylor sentenced to 50 years at The Hague, 30 May |
| 2014 | Ebola — the emergency of August; the epidemic to 2016 |
| 2017 | George Weah elected, 26 December |
| 2018 | The peaceful transfer, 22 January; UNMIL leaves, 30 March |
| 2022 | The census, November |
| 2023 | Boakai wins the runoff, 14 November |
| 2024 | Boakai inaugurated, 22 January; the court order, 2 May |
| 2025 | Elected to the Security Council, 3 June |
| 2026 | The Council seat, 1 January; the court bill, May; the security strategy, 9 June |
Records & firsts
| The first republic in Africa | 26 July 1847 |
|---|---|
| The first woman elected head of state in Africa | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 2005 |
| The wettest capital on earth | Monrovia, about 5,100 mm |
| The largest rubber plantation | Firestone at Harbel |
| The second-largest ship registry | A fifth of the world's fleet |
| A capital named for a U.S. president | Monroe's Monrovia |
| The only African Ballon d'Or | George Weah, 1995 — later president |
| Never colonized by Europe | With Ethiopia |
| Two currencies at once | The Liberian and the U.S. dollar |
| An African script of its own | The Vai syllabary, 1833 |
| The worst Ebola epidemic | 2014–16, 4,800 dead in Liberia |
| A head of state convicted since Nuremberg | Charles Taylor, 2012 — the first |
| Two-fifths of the Upper Guinea forest | Sapo and the rest |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Liberia?
The Republic of Liberia — declared on 26 July 1847 by the settlers the American Colonization Society had landed on the coast from 1822, freed and free-born Black Americans, as the first republic in Africa and the second in the world for Black people after Haiti. The name is "the land of the free," from the Latin liber, coined by the society; the capital is named for James Monroe, the American president of its founding, and the flag copies the American with a single star. The state was never colonized by a European power.
What is the capital of Liberia?
Monrovia, on Cape Mesurado at the mouth of the Saint Paul River — the settlement of 1822 on Providence Island named in 1824 for President James Monroe, the only capital in the world outside the United States named for an American president; about 1.5 million people in Greater Monrovia, a third of the country, swollen by the wars, and the wettest capital on earth, with some 5,100 mm of rain a year. Gbarnga, the town of the interior, Buchanan the ore port, Kakata, Harper and Zwedru are the other towns; Ganta the crossroads to Guinea.
How big is Liberia, and how many people live there?
About 111,369 km² (43,000 sq mi) — a little larger than Tennessee, about the size of Bulgaria — on the Atlantic coast of West Africa between Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, with more than two-fifths of the surviving rainforest of Upper Guinea. The census of 2022, the first in fourteen years, counted 5,248,621 people; the UN estimates about 5.7 million for 2025, a nation of sixteen peoples and the descendants of the settlers, the Americo-Liberians, who are about 3 percent and ruled it for 133 years.
What are the highest and lowest points of Liberia?
Mount Wuteve, 1,447 m (4,747 ft), in the Wologizi range of Lofa County in the north — the Nimba range on the Guinean border rises higher on the far side of the line, and the iron ore of its Liberian slopes built the country's railways; and the Atlantic. The Cavalla, 515 km, the longest river, is the border with Côte d'Ivoire; the Saint Paul of Monrovia is dammed at Mount Coffee for the capital's power; the Lofa, the Saint John and the Cestos cut the forest to the sea.
What currency does Liberia use?
Two. The Liberian dollar (ISO code LRD, L$), issued by the Central Bank of Liberia, at about 200 to the U.S. dollar, floated since 2019 after the country's worst inflation; and the U.S. dollar itself, legal tender since the founding and the currency of the state's accounts, the rents and the larger purchases — the country used American money alone from 1943 to 1989. Clocks keep Greenwich Mean Time, UTC±0, all year; Liberia drives on the right and plugs in at 120 volts, the American way.
Who governs Liberia?
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai of the Unity Party, head of state and government since 22 January 2024 — the vice president of the Sirleaf years, elected at 79 over the incumbent George Weah in the runoff of 14 November 2023 by 50.64 percent, the narrowest margin in the country's history, in the peaceful transfer that followed; Jeremiah Koung is vice president. His government took Liberia's seat on the UN Security Council on 1 January 2026 for two years, the first full term in the state's history, and in May 2026 sent parliament the bill for the War and Economic Crimes Court that would try the crimes of the wars of 1989–2003, promised since the truth commission of 2009. The next election is due in October 2029.
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