Somalia
Name
| Official name | Federal Republic of Somalia — Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya (Somali); Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl al-Fidirāliyya (Arabic); Somalia the short form |
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| Former names | The Somali Republic (1 July 1960 – 1969), the union of the State of Somaliland, independent from Britain on 26 June 1960, and the Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration, independent on 1 July 1960; the Somali Democratic Republic (1969–1991) of Siad Barre's Supreme Revolutionary Council and one-party state; the Transitional National Government of Arta of 2000 and the Transitional Federal Government of 2004 to 2012; the Federal Republic since the Provisional Constitution of 1 August 2012; before 1960 — British Somaliland (1884–1960), a protectorate of the Aden government and of the Colonial Office, and Italian Somaliland (1889–1941) of the Benadir coast and the sultanates, Italian East Africa (1936–41), the British military administration (1941–50) and the UN Trust Territory (1950–60); the sultanates of Adal, Ajuran, Geledi, Majeerteen, Hobyo and Warsangali; the Land of Punt of the Egyptians by the common reading |
| Demonym | Somali |
| Meaning of the name | The name of the people — "Soomaali," of disputed origin: "soo maal," "go and milk," the pastoralist's greeting to the guest, in the folk etymology; the Cushitic word for the dark of the skin by another; the name of an ancestor Samaale of the clan genealogies by a third; first written in an Ethiopian hymn of the 1400s for the Somali warriors of Adal; the country "Somalia" the Italians' form, "Soomaaliya" the Somali; the "Horn of Africa" for the shape of the land; "the land of the poets" and "the nation of bards" of the ethnographers for the verse that is its literature |
| Motto | None by law |
Quick facts
| Capital | Mogadishu (Muqdisho) — on the Indian Ocean coast of the Banadir region, about 2.7 million by the estimates; the port city of the 900s, the Italian capital from 1889 and the republic's since 1960; Villa Somalia, the Federal Parliament, the Aden Adde airport and the Halane compound of the missions |
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| Largest cities | Mogadishu; Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, about 1.2 million by the estimates; Bosaso of the Puntland coast and the port; Kismayo of Jubaland at the Jubba's mouth; Baidoa of the Bay region, the seat of South West State and of the displaced; Garowe, the capital of Puntland; Beledweyne of the Shabelle and the floods; Galkayo, divided between Puntland and Galmudug; Berbera of the port and the Somaliland coast; Burao of the Somaliland interior; Merca and Brava of the old Benadir coast; Jowhar, the seat of Hirshabelle; Dhusamareb of Galmudug; Las Anod of the SSC-Khatumo; Afgooye, Balad, Bardera, Luuq, Erigavo, Borama — each of some hundreds of thousands by the estimates and none counted since 1975 |
| Official languages | Somali — the Cushitic language of the whole nation, of the Maxaa dialects of the north and center and the Maay of the Rahanweyn of the south, written in the Latin script the government adopted on 21 October 1972 after decades of quarrel with the Arabic and the Osmanya script of the 1920s, the language of the poets, the radio and the mobile phones; Arabic the second official language of the Constitution, of the Quran, the schools and the Arab League; English of the north's schools and the aid, Italian of the old south fading; Benadiri and Bravanese Swahili of the coast towns, Bajuni of the islands, the Mushunguli of the Bantu of the Jubba; the oral poetry — the gabay, the buraanbur, the geeraar — the literature of the "nation of bards" |
| Currency | Somali shilling — SOS, Sh.So.; 100 senti; the Central Bank of Somalia; about 570 to the U.S. dollar in the south, the Somaliland shilling of the north about 8,500; the U.S. dollar and the mobile money the money of daily life |
| Time zone | East Africa Time, UTC+3; no summer time |
| Calling code | +252 |
| Internet domain | .so |
| ISO 3166 codes | SO · SOM · 706 |
| Vehicle registration code | SO |
| Driving side | Right — by the law, with the imported right-hand-drive cars of Dubai on the same roads |
| Electricity | 220 V, 50 Hz; plug type C |
| Independence | 1 July 1960 — the union of the State of Somaliland, independent from the United Kingdom on 26 June 1960, and the Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italy, independent on 1 July, as the Somali Republic under President Aden Abdulle Osman and Prime Minister Abdirashid Ali Shermarke; the Act of Union the north signed and the south never ratified in the same terms, the flaw the Somaliland lawyers cite; the flag of 12 October 1954 and the arms of 1956 before it; Somaliland's own declaration of 18 May 1991 |
| National days | 1 July, Independence Day, of the union of 1960; 26 June, Independence Day of the north, of Somaliland's independence of 1960, kept in the south too; the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year and the Prophet's Birthday by the moon; 1 May; 21 October, the anniversary of the revolution of 1969, kept by the Barre state and dropped; 18 May in Somaliland; the Dabshid fire festival of the Somali new year in the south |
| Constitution | 1 August 2012 — the Provisional Constitution adopted by the National Constituent Assembly of 825 delegates in Mogadishu, in place of the Transitional Federal Charter of 2004 and the Constitution of 1960 that the coup of 1969 suspended and the one-party constitution of 1979: a federal parliamentary republic of a president elected by the two houses for four years, a prime minister and cabinet answerable to the House of the People of 275, an Upper House of the federal member states, Islam the state religion and the sharia the source of law, the federal member states and the Banadir region, the judiciary of the Constitutional Court never seated; the referendum it was to face never held; AMENDED on 30 March 2024 in its first four chapters by the Parliament — direct elections by universal suffrage, a president who appoints and removes the prime minister, three national parties, a five-year presidential term of the plan — over the walkout of Puntland, which "withdrew" from the federal system on 31 March 2024, and AGAIN on 4 and 5 March 2026 by 222 of the 329 members, lengthening the president's and the parliament's terms from four years to five and putting the election of 2026 off to 2027, the president's "completion of the constitution" and the opposition's "coup" (LAW 2); the Justice and Solidarity Party of the president and the party law of 2024 |
| Population | No census since 1975 — about 19.7 million (2025 est., United Nations); 20,305,907 (2026 est., the encyclopedias); 12.3 million by the UNFPA population survey of 2014; 3.25 million at the census of February 1975, 7.1 million by the census of 1986 never fully published; growing near 3% a year; about 3.8 million displaced within the country; the 2 million of the diaspora abroad |
| Area | 637,657 km² (246,201 sq mi) — about 43rd of the world; the Horn of Africa from the Gulf of Aden to the Kenyan border; the exclusive economic zone of about 830,000 km² the International Court of Justice bounded against Kenya on 12 October 2021 |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A light blue field with a white five-pointed star at its center, in the proportion 2:3 — the blue of the United Nations flag, under whose trusteeship the south lived when the flag was designed, and of the sky and the sea, the white for peace and the star for the Somali nation, its five points the five lands of the Somalis the nationalists meant to unite: British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, French Somaliland (Djibouti), the Ogaden of Ethiopia and the Northern Frontier District of Kenya; designed by Mohammed Awale Liban, the scholar of the Trust Territory's Legislative Council, and adopted on 12 October 1954 by the Council for the Trust Territory, the flag of the union of 1 July 1960 and of every state since, flown by the federal government, the transitional governments, the Barre state and the member states alike, and by the diaspora on the Somali flag day of 12 October; Somaliland flies its own green, white and red of 1996.Flag of Somalia |
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| Coat of arms | A light blue shield bordered in gold bearing the white star of the flag, topped by a golden crown of the old Italian heraldry — the "mural crown" of the state — and supported by two leopards standing on two crossed spears and two palm fronds tied with a white ribbon; adopted on 10 October 1956 by the Trust Territory's government and kept by the republic of 1960, the Barre state and the federal republic; the leopard the national animal of the arms; on the passports, the currency and the seals of the state |
| National anthem | "Qolobaa Calankeed" — "Every Nation Has Its Own Flag" — the words and music of Abdullahi Qarshe, the father of Somali music, of 1959, adopted as the national anthem on 1 August 2012 with the Provisional Constitution in place of "Soomaaliyeey toosoo," "Somalia, Wake Up," of Ali Mire Awale and Yusuf Haji Adan, the anthem of 2000 to 2012, and of "Somalia Hanolato," "Long Live Somalia," the wordless anthem of 1960 to 2000 of the Italian bandmaster Giuseppe Blanc; the lines on the blue of the flag "the color of the sky" and the star |
| National motto | None by law |
| National colors | Light blue and white — the flag's |
| National animal | The leopard, of the supporters of the coat of arms of 1956 — widely cited, none designated by law; the camel of the herds, the largest of the world at some 7 million head, the animal of the poetry and the bride price; the lion of the old Somali Airlines badge; the dibatag and the beira antelopes, the Somali wild ass and the Speke's gazelle of the Horn found nowhere else; the frankincense tree of the Boswellia of Sanaag and Bari |
| National tree and flower | None designated — the frankincense and myrrh trees of the northern hills, the incense the Egyptians sailed to Punt for and the churches still burn, the largest producer of frankincense in the world; the yeheb nut of the Haud; the acacia of the pastures; the aloe; the mango and the banana of the rivers; widely cited |
| National dish | None designated — canjeero (anjero), the sourdough pancake of the morning; bariis iskukaris, the spiced rice of the south with the goat or camel meat, the "Somali rice" of the diaspora; baasto of the Italian legacy, the pasta with the suqaar meat; camel milk and camel meat of the nomads, the hilib ari of the goat; the maraq soup, the sambuusa, the xalwo halva of Eid and the weddings, the Somali tea (shaah) of cardamom and cloves, the qaad (khat) of the afternoon the state taxes and the doctors deplore; the fish of the coast the nomads long scorned and the towns now eat; widely cited |
| National sport | Football — the Ocean Stars of the Somali Football Federation of 1951, the FIFA member of 1962, without a World Cup or Cup of Nations appearance, the Mogadishu Stadium of 1978 that the militias and the missions occupied and the government reopened in 2020, the Banadir league; the athletics of Abdi Bile, the world champion of the 1,500 m of 1987 at Rome, the country's one world title, and of Mo Farah of Britain, born in Mogadishu, of the four Olympic golds of 2012 and 2016; the basketball of the Somali diaspora; the camel racing and the traditional wrestling; no Olympic medal; none designated; widely cited |
| Heritage listings | Nothing on the World Heritage list — the tentative list of the Laas Geel rock art of Somaliland of some 5,000 years, the old towns of Zeila and Mogadishu, the Hafun and the Iskushuban; nothing on the intangible list; the oral poetry of the gabay and the buraanbur, the "nation of poets" of Richard Burton's phrase of 1854, the Somali script of 1972 and the literacy campaign of 1974; the dance of the dhaanto and the music of Qarshe and Waaberi; the Somali weddings, the henna and the dirac; the shir of the elders and the xeer of the customary law |
| Symbol status | The flag by the Council of 1954 and the Constitution's Article 6; the arms by the government of 1956; the anthem by the Constitution of 2012; the animal, the tree, the dish and the sport widely cited, none designated |
Geography
| Location | The Horn of Africa, the easternmost country of the mainland, between 2 degrees south and 12 north — Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the west, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north across which lies Yemen, the Indian Ocean to the east and south; Mogadishu 2°02′N 45°21′E; the Cape of Guardafui (Ras Asir) at the Horn's tip and the island of Socotra of Yemen beyond it; astride the shipping lane of the Gulf of Aden and the Bab-el-Mandeb of the Suez route, the waters of the pirates of 2008 to 2012 |
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| Land borders | 2,366 km (1,470 mi) by the newer count — Ethiopia 1,626 km, Kenya 682 km, Djibouti 60 km; 2,385 km by the Factbook count the family carries — Ethiopia 1,640, Kenya 684, Djibouti 61; the Ethiopian border of the Ogaden the Somali state fought for in 1964 and 1977 to 1978, never demarcated in full, the provisional line of 1897 and 1950; the Kenyan border of the Northern Frontier District of the Shifta War of 1963 to 1967; the Djibouti border at Loyada; the maritime boundary with Kenya the ICJ drew on 12 October 2021 in Somalia's favor, which Kenya rejected |
| Coastline | 3,333 km (2,071 mi) — the longest of mainland Africa: the Gulf of Aden coast of the Guban from Loyada past Zeila of the old sultanate, Berbera of the port, Maydh and Bosaso to the Cape of Guardafui, the tip of the Horn; the Indian Ocean coast of the Bari, Nugaal, Mudug and Galguduud of the Hafun peninsula, the Hobyo dunes and the Eyl of the pirates, the Benadir coast of Mogadishu, Merca and Brava, the Bajuni islands and Kismayo to Ras Kamboni at the Kenyan line; the monsoon winds and the upwelling of the tuna; the coral of Bajuni; the tsunami of 26 December 2004 that killed some 300 on the Puntland shore; the cyclone Gati of November 2020; the fishing grounds the foreign trawlers plunder |
| Highest point | Shimbiris, 2,416 m (7,927 ft) by the common figure, 2,460 m by the newer survey, in the Cal Madow range of the Golis Mountains of Sanaag, in Somaliland; the Daallo escarpment and the juniper forest; the Surud range of the Cal Madow; the Ogo highlands of Hargeisa at 1,300 m; the Buur Heybe of the south; the Karkaar of the Bari coast |
| Lowest point | The Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | About 410 m (1,345 ft) |
| Rivers | The Jubba (Juba), the only river that flows all year to the sea — some 1,000 km from the Ethiopian highlands at Dolow to the Indian Ocean below Kismayo, the river of Bardera, Jilib and Jamame and of the bananas of the old plantations; the Shabelle (Shebelle), 1,130 km in all from Ethiopia past Beledweyne, Jowhar and Afgooye, which turns south along the coast and sinks into the swamps of Jilib before it reaches the Jubba except in flood, the river of the floods of Beledweyne of 2023 and of the irrigation of the south; the two together the "riverine" heart of the country between them, the granary the Bantu farm and the war ruined; the Nugaal of the seasonal wadis of the north, the Togdheer, the Dharoor; the dry riverbeds (tog) of the wet seasons; the springs of the Golis |
| Lakes | None of note — the seasonal pans of the Haud and the Mudug, the lagoons of the coast; the swamps of the Shabelle's end at Jilib; the water reservoirs (berkado) of the nomads and the dams the aid digs; the wells of the clans that decide the migrations |
| Terrain | Plateau and plain from the mountains of the north to the rivers of the south — the Guban, the hot coastal strip of the Gulf of Aden; the Golis and Cal Madow ranges of Shimbiris and the Karkaar behind it, the escarpment of Somaliland and Bari; the Ogo plateau of Hargeisa and Burao falling south to the Haud, the great grazing plain of the Somali nomads that crosses into Ethiopia; the Nugaal valley and the Mudug and Galguduud plains of the center, the low scrub of the camels; the coastal dunes of the Indian Ocean from Hobyo to Mogadishu, the highest in Africa, 60 km deep in places; the Benadir coast and the "riverine" south of the Jubba and the Shabelle, the only farmland; the Bay plateau of Baidoa of the sorghum; the Bajuni islands; a country of the acacia and the thorn, the term "Somali" a byword for the semi-desert of the herds |
| Climate | Hot and dry — arid in the north and the center, semi-arid in the south, the mean 27°C, the coast of Berbera among the hottest places on earth in summer at 40 to 45°C, the Ogo highlands cool; the four seasons of the Somali year — Gu, the main rains of April to June, Xagaa, the dry southwest monsoon of July to September, Deyr, the short rains of October to November, and Jilaal, the harsh dry of December to March; rain of under 100 mm a year on the Guban and the northeast, 200 to 300 on the plateau, 400 to 500 in the south, the Cal Madow the wettest; the monsoons that turn the winds and the dhows; the droughts of every third or fourth year — 1974, 1992, 2011, 2017, 2020 to 2023, the worst in four decades, five failed rains — and the floods of the El Niño Deyr of 1997, 2019 and 2023; the dust storms of the Jilaal |
| Natural hazards | Drought and famine above all — the famine of 1992 of some 220,000 to 300,000 dead that brought the American landing, the famine of 2011 of about 260,000 dead, half of them children, the near-famine of 2017 and of 2022, when the five failed rains of 2020 to 2023 killed some 43,000 in 2022 by the UN's count and left 8 million hungry; the floods of the Shabelle and the Jubba — Beledweyne under water in 2019, 2020 and the Deyr of November 2023 of 100 dead and 1.7 million displaced; the desert locusts of 2019 to 2021; the cyclones of the Puntland coast — Gati of 22 November 2020, the strongest recorded, and the storm of 2013; the tsunami of 2004; the cholera and the measles of the camps; the charcoal fires of the acacia; the wars of 35 years the greatest hazard, some 500,000 dead by the counts |
| Natural resources | Livestock — the camels, some 7 million, the largest herd of the world, the goats and sheep of 40 million, the cattle, the export of 4 to 5 million head a year to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf; the frankincense and myrrh of the Bari and Sanaag hills; the fish of the 3,333 km of coast and the upwelling, tuna, lobster, shark, among the richest and least fished waters; the oil and gas the seismic surveys of the 1980s and the Turkish ship Oruç Reis of 2024 and 2025 have promised offshore and onshore, "at least 30 billion barrels" in the government's figures, the drilling promised for 2026; uranium of the center, iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt of the Hafun pans, the limestone; the bananas of the Jubba, the sorghum of Bay; the sun and the wind of the plateau; the gum arabic; the charcoal the Gulf buys and the UN bans |
| Land use | Pasture about 70% of the land — the rangelands of the nomads, half the people herders still; arable about 1.6% to 1.8% — the irrigated banana, sugar, maize and sesame of the Jubba and Shabelle valleys and the rain-fed sorghum of the Bay region, the Bakool and the northwest; forest about 10% and falling to the charcoal, the acacia of the Jubba the militias cut for the Gulf trade; the desert of the rest; the customary land of the clans and the wells; the enclosures the war brought |
| National parks | On paper — the Kismayo National Park and the Lag Badana–Bushbush of 1979 on the Kenyan border of the last forest, the Jilib and the Alifuuto (Arbowerow) reserves of the Shabelle swamps, the Hobyo grasslands and shrublands of the dunes, the Zeila and the Hargeisa reserves, the Daallo Forest of the Cal Madow of Somaliland of the juniper and the endemic birds, the Bushbush; none staffed since 1991 and the wildlife of the 1970s — the elephants, the giraffes, the lions — gone from the south; the Somali wild ass, the beira, the dibatag, the Speke's gazelle and the Somali ostrich the endemics that survive; the Ramsar list empty; the marine reserves of the plans |
| UNESCO World Heritage | None — the tentative list since 2011 of the Laas Geel cave paintings near Hargeisa, the herders' cattle of some 3,000 to 5,000 years the French found in 2002, the Old City of Mogadishu of the mosques of 1269, Zeila of the Adal sultanate, the Iskushuban and the Hafun of the Roman-era port of Opone; nothing on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 18 regions (gobollada) of the republic of 1960 to 1991 on paper — Awdal, Woqooyi Galbeed, Togdheer, Sanaag, Sool (the five of Somaliland), Bari, Nugaal, Mudug, Galguduud, Hiiraan, Middle Shabelle, Banadir, Lower Shabelle, Bay, Bakool, Gedo, Middle Jubba, Lower Jubba — and some 90 districts; the FEDERAL MEMBER STATES of the Constitution of 2012 — Puntland (1998, Garowe), Jubaland (2013, Kismayo), South West (2014, Baidoa), Galmudug (2015, Dhusamareb) and Hirshabelle (2016, Jowhar) — with the Banadir region of Mogadishu under the federal government and the SSC-Khatumo of Las Anod, which broke from Somaliland in 2023 and which the federal cabinet recognized in 2025 as the North Eastern State in the making; Somaliland (1991, Hargeisa) of the five northern regions, a state of its own in its own account and a region of Somalia in the federal government's and the world's but Israel's (LAW 2); the Mogadishu district councils of 16 districts elected on 25 December 2025 |
People
| Population | About 19.7 million (2025 est., UN); 20,305,907 (2026 est., the encyclopedias); 12.3 million (UNFPA survey of 2014); 7.1 million (the census of 1986, unpublished in full); 3,253,024 (census of February 1975); 2.2 million (1960 est.); the refugees of 1977 to 1978 and the flight of 1991 in the numbers; no count since |
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| Population density | About 30 per km² (78 per sq mi) on the UN estimate — Mogadishu and the Benadir and the riverine south full, the Bari and the Mudug plains empty; a nation still half nomadic |
| Population growth | Near 3% a year — some 38 to 40 births per thousand against 11 deaths, among the highest of the world, the fertility of six; the drift to Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Bosaso and Baidoa of the droughts and the wars, the camps of 3.8 million displaced within the country; the emigration of the war years to Kenya's Dadaab, Ethiopia, Yemen, the Gulf, Europe and North America, the diaspora of about 2 million; the returns of the 2010s |
| Median age | About 17 years — 42% under 15, 2 to 3% aged 65 and over |
| Life expectancy | About 56 to 58 years by the counts, among the lowest 15 of the world; the infant mortality of some 70 to 85 per thousand; the maternal mortality among the highest anywhere; the doctors of a few per 100,000; the Turkish and the Somali diaspora hospitals of the towns |
| Fertility rate | About 6 births per woman — 5.9 to 6.9 by the estimates, the second- or third-highest of the world after Niger and Chad |
| Urban population | About 48% — the fastest urbanization of Africa, Mogadishu of 2.7 million and Hargeisa of 1.2 million by the estimates, the camps around every town |
| Adult literacy | About 40% by the estimates the state and the UN use — the men about 50%, the women about 30%; 5% before the script of 1972, the campaign of 1974 to 1975 that taught the nomads and the collapse of 1991 that undid it; the Quranic schools of every village, the private schools of Mogadishu and Hargeisa |
| Ethnic groups | Somali about 85% — the one nation of the clan families: the Darod of the northeast, the Ogaden, the Gedo and Jubaland (Majeerteen, Marehan, Ogaden, Dhulbahante, Warsangali, Harti), the Hawiye of the center and Mogadishu (Habar Gidir, Abgaal, Murusade, Hawadle), the Dir of the northwest and the Djibouti border (Gadabuursi, Issa, Biimaal), the Isaaq of Somaliland (Habar Awal, Habar Jeclo, Habar Yoonis, Arap), the Rahanweyn of the Digil and Mirifle of the Bay and Bakool of the Maay speech — the "4.5" of the politics; the others about 15% — the Somali Bantu (Jareer) of the Jubba and Shabelle farms, the descendants of the slaves of the 1800s and the older peoples, the Benadiri of the coast towns of Arab and Persian descent, the Bravanese of Brava, the Bajuni of the islands, the Yibir, Midgan (Gabooye) and Tumal of the occupational castes, the Arabs of the Hadhramaut, the Oromo of the border; the Somalis of Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya beyond the borders of the five-pointed star |
| Languages | Somali official — the Maxaa of most and the Maay of the Rahanweyn, written in the Latin script since 1972; Arabic official, of the religion and the Arab League, spoken by the learned; English of the north, the schools and the aid, Italian of the old officials of the south; the Swahili of the Benadiri and the Bravanese (Chimwiini), the Bajuni; the Mushunguli of the Bantu of Jubaland; the Oromo of Gedo; the Somali of 20 million more in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and the diaspora |
| Religion | Sunni Islam about 99% — the Shafi'i school of the coast and the Sufi orders of the Qadiriyya, the Salihiyya of the Dervishes of 1899 and the Ahmadiyya, the mosques of Mogadishu of 1269, the sharia the constitution makes the source of law and the Islamic Courts Union of 2006 and al-Shabaab since made a war of; the Salafi of the Gulf money; the Christians of a few hundred of the old cathedral of 1928 wrecked in 2008; the Ahmadi and the Shia none; conversion from Islam a crime; the "xeer" of the clans beside the sharia; the Eid of the whole nation |
| Human Development Index | 0.404 (2023 data, 2025 report) — low; about 192nd of 193, above South Sudan alone |
| Housing and living | The aqal of the nomads, the dome hut of mats and bent boughs the camel carries; the mud and stone houses of the towns, the corrugated iron of the camps of the displaced, the towers of Mogadishu's boom of the 2010s and the villas of the diaspora; the poverty of about 55% to 70% of the people by the World Bank's counts; the remittances of about US$1.6 billion to US$2 billion a year, the largest source of income, one household in two receiving them; the mobile money of EVC Plus and Zaad of seven in ten adults; the electricity of the private generators and the solar of about 60% of households since 2024 by the government's count from 15% in 2012; the water of the boreholes and the berkads; the qaad of the afternoon; the diya (blood money) of the clans; the wedding of the whole quarter |
| Learning and letters | The Somali National University of Mogadishu of 1954 as the Istituto Universitario, closed in 1991 and reopened in 2014, the Mogadishu University of 1997, SIMAD, the Benadir University, the University of Hargeisa (2000) and the Amoud University of Borama (1998) of the north, the Puntland State University, the East Africa University of Bosaso; the private universities of the 2000s in every town; the poets — Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan of the Dervish war, the "Mad Mullah" of the British, Raage Ugaas, Salaan Carrabey, Abdillahi Suldaan "Timacadde," Hadraawi of the 1970s and the peace march of 2003, Gaarriye; the novelists — Nuruddin Farah of "Maps" and "Sweet and Sour Milk," the Neustadt Prize of 1998, Faarax M. J. Cawl of the first Somali novel of 1974, Nadifa Mohamed, Warsan Shire, Ayaan Hirsi Ali of the Netherlands; the singers Abdullahi Qarshe, Magool, Hasan Aden Samatar, K'naan of "Wavin' Flag" of 2010, the Waaberi troupe; the film "The Gravedigger's Wife" of 2021; Ilhan Omar of the U.S. Congress; the model Iman and Waris Dirie; the script of Shire Jama Ahmed of 1972; the Somali Wikipedia; the memory of the "Somali Wonders" of the 1970s |
| Sport | Football of the Ocean Stars and the Mogadishu Stadium reopened in June 2020 after 30 years, the Banadir clubs of Elman and Horseed, the Somali women's team of the diaspora; Abdi Bile, the world champion of the 1,500 m of 1987 and the fourth of the Olympics of 1988, the country's greatest athlete; Mo Farah of the British four golds, born in the Somali north in 1983 and trafficked to London as a child by his own account of 2022; the basketball of the Mogadishu courts the militias banned; the taekwondo and the athletics of the Games of the Arab and African calendars; the Olympics since 1972 without a medal, the runners of the flag; the camel racing of the north, the wrestling and the "shax" board game of the nomads; the Somali Premier League of 2020 |
| Diaspora | About 2 million abroad — the refugees of 1991 and since: Kenya of Dadaab, once the largest refugee camp of the world, and of Nairobi's Eastleigh, "Little Mogadishu"; Ethiopia of the Somali Region and the Dollo Ado camps; Yemen of the crossings of the Gulf of Aden; the Gulf of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates of the workers; the United States of Minneapolis, the largest Somali city of the West, and of Columbus and Seattle, of Ilhan Omar; Britain of London, Leicester and Bristol, of Mo Farah; Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands of Hirsi Ali, Germany, Italy of the old tie; Canada of Toronto and Ottawa; South Africa and Uganda of the traders; the remittances of about US$1.6 billion to US$2 billion a year through Dahabshiil and the hawala houses that feed the country; the diaspora ministers, the returnees of the 2010s who rebuilt Mogadishu and the "dual citizens" of the parliament |
Government
| Form of government | Federal parliamentary republic under the Provisional Constitution of 2012 — the president as head of state, elected by the two houses of the Federal Parliament for four years by the constitution of 2012 and five by the amendment of 2026, with the appointment of the prime minister and, since the amendment of 2024, the power to dismiss him; the prime minister and the Council of Ministers answerable to the House of the People; the Federal Parliament of the House of the People of 275, chosen in 2021 and 2022 by electoral colleges of clan delegates under the "4.5" power-sharing formula of the four major clan families and the half share of the minorities in place of the direct election the constitution promised, and the Upper House of 54 chosen by the state assemblies; the federal member states of their own presidents, parliaments and forces; the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court never seated; the sharia as the source of law; no direct national election since 1969 — the district councils of Mogadishu of 25 December 2025 the first one-person-one-vote in 56 years, and the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2026 put off to 2027 by the amendment of March 2026 the opposition rejects; "not free" by Freedom House; the "4.5" the clans defend and the reformers damn (LAW 2) |
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| President | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, in office since 23 May 2022 — elected on 15 May 2022 in the Halane airport hangar of Mogadishu by 214 votes to 110 of the two houses over the incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmaajo," his own successor of 2017, in the third round; the president of 2012 to 2017 before it, elected on 10 September 2012 as the first of the federal republic; born 29 November 1955 at Jalalaqsi in Hiiraan, a Hawiye Abgaal, the teacher and civil-society organizer of the war years, the founder of SIMAD University of 1999, the doctorate of the University for Peace of 2022, the leader of the Union for Peace and Development Party and of the Justice and Solidarity Party of 2025; the "total war" on al-Shabaab of 2022 with the Macawisley clan militias that took the Hiiraan and Galguduud towns and lost some of them again in the offensive of 2025, the debt relief of 13 December 2023, the constitutional amendments of 30 March 2024 and the quarrel with Puntland and Jubaland, the party system and the direct-election law of 2024, the Mogadishu vote of December 2025; HIS MANDATE — the four-year term of the constitution of 2012 expired on 15 May 2026, and the amendment of 4 and 5 March 2026 by 222 members lengthened it to five years, to May 2027, the president holding that his term runs and the opposition of the Somali Future Council, Puntland, Jubaland and the encyclopedias that count Speaker Adan Madobe as acting president from 15 May 2026 holding that it has ended (LAW 2); the talks of 12 to 15 May 2026 at Halane under American and British mediation that collapsed, the agreement of 1 September 2026 to hold elections within seven months with the international partners as observers, the UN speech of 24 September 2026 promising the first one-person-one-vote election since 1969; the predecessors — Farmaajo (2017–22), Hassan Sheikh (2012–17), Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (2009–12), Abdullahi Yusuf (2004–08), Abdiqasim Salad (2000–04), the interregnum of 1991 to 2000, Siad Barre (1969–91), Shermarke (1967–69, assassinated), Aden Abdulle Osman (1960–67) |
| Prime Minister | Hamza Abdi Barre, since 25 June 2022 — appointed by the president on 15 June 2022 and confirmed by the House of the People by 220 votes of 222 on 25 June; of Kismayo, a Darod Ogaden of Jubaland, the teacher and the secretary-general of the Peace and Development Party, the member of Parliament for Jubaland since 2016 and the chairman of its electoral commission; the deputy prime ministers Salah Ahmed Jama and, since 2025, Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi; the cabinet of some 26 ministers of the clan balance and the reshuffles of 2024 and 2025; the prime minister the amendment of 2024 made the president's to appoint and dismiss without the House, the change the opposition fought; the prime ministers before — Mohamed Hussein Roble (2020–22), Hassan Ali Khaire (2017–20), Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke (2014–17), Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed (2013–14), Abdi Farah Shirdon (2012–13), Abdiweli Mohamed Ali (2011–12), Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo (2010–11), Omar Sharmarke (2009–10), Nur Hassan Hussein (2007–09), Ali Mohammed Ghedi (2004–07) and the men of the 1960s, Shermarke and Egal, and of the Barre years |
| The mandate dispute of 2026 | The constitutional crisis of the year — the parliament's four-year term of the constitution of 2012 ran out on 14 April 2026 and the president's on 15 May 2026 with no election held, the direct elections the law of 2024 promised unready and the federal member states of Puntland and Jubaland outside the process; the amendment of 4 and 5 March 2026, passed by acclamation of 222 of the 329 members of the two houses, that lengthened both terms to five years and put the elections off by a year, "the official completion of the constitution" in the president's words; the Somali Future Council of the former presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Farmaajo, Puntland's Said Abdullahi Deni and Jubaland's Ahmed Mohamed Islam "Madobe," formed on 2 October 2025, which holds that the president's mandate ended on 15 May 2026 and demands elections and a transition; the South West State of Abdiaziz Laftagareen that suspended cooperation on 17 March 2026, the federal army's seizure of Baidoa on 30 March and his resignation on 31 March, and his militia's attack on the city of 17 August 2026 that the Defence Ministry said killed 30 of the attackers and fought "alongside al-Shabaab"; the clashes in Mogadishu of May 2026 and the protester shot dead on 10 May; the talks of 12 to 15 May 2026 at Halane under American and British mediation that collapsed over the mandate; the agreement of 1 September 2026 between the president and the opposition for elections within seven months, the international partners downgraded from guarantors to observers and the type of election left open; the president's speech to the UN General Assembly of 24 September 2026 promising the first one-person-one-vote election since 1969; the government's case — that a constitution completed and a direct vote prepared need the year — and the opposition's — that a term ended and a president who stays is a usurper — both stated (LAW 2) |
| Federal Parliament | The Federal Parliament of Somalia — bicameral, in its building near Villa Somalia in Mogadishu: the House of the People (Golaha Shacabka) of 275 members, chosen between November 2021 and April 2022 by electoral colleges of 101 clan delegates for each seat under the "4.5" formula, with 30% of the seats reserved for women in the rule and 20% filled, and the Upper House (Aqalka Sare) of 54 senators chosen by the state parliaments, 11 each for the five states and Somaliland's share; the Speaker of the House Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur "Madobe" of Jubaland since 28 April 2022, the Speaker of the Transitional Parliament of 2007 to 2010, and the Speaker of the Upper House Abdi Hashi Abdullahi of Somaliland's Isaaq quota since 2016; the amendments of 30 March 2024 and 4–5 March 2026; the party law of 2024 that limits the national parties to three — the president's Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP) of 2025 the first; the electoral commission NIEBC and the voter registration of Mogadishu of 2025; the terms that ran out on 14 April 2026 by the old count; the walkout of Puntland's and Jubaland's members; the parliaments before — the National Assembly of 1960 to 1969 of the last direct election of 26 March 1969, the People's Assembly of the one party, the Transitional Federal Parliament of 2004 to 2012 that sat in Baidoa and Nairobi |
| The elections | The last one-person-one-vote national election on 26 March 1969 — the Somali Youth League's 73 of 123 seats and the 1,000 candidates of 62 parties of the republic's last free vote before the coup of 21 October; the indirect elections since 2000 — Arta (2000), Nairobi (2004), Djibouti (2009), Mogadishu (2012, the 135 elders' 275 members), the 14,025 delegates of 2016 to 2017 and the 27,775 of 2021 to 2022 in the state capitals under the "4.5"; the presidential votes of the members — 2012 (Hassan Sheikh over Sharif), 8 February 2017 (Farmaajo 184 to Hassan Sheikh's 97), 15 May 2022 (Hassan Sheikh 214 to Farmaajo's 110); THE MOGADISHU DISTRICT COUNCIL ELECTIONS OF 25 DECEMBER 2025 — the first one-person-one-vote of any kind since 1969, the 16 districts of the Banadir region, some 900,000 registered voters and 523 polling stations, 20 parties, the count finalized by the commission in the weeks after and the opposition's rejection of the vote as "flawed and one-sided" (LAW 2); the state elections of Galmudug and Hirshabelle of the plans of 2026; the national elections due in 2026 and put off to 2027, or within seven months of the agreement of 1 September 2026 — the count on the day (LAW 2); Somaliland's own direct elections since 2002, the presidential vote of 13 November 2024 that Abdirahman Irro of Waddani won with 63.9% |
| The federal member states and Somaliland | Puntland of Garowe, the autonomous state of 1 August 1998 of the Majeerteen and the Harti under President Said Abdullahi Deni since January 2019, re-elected on 8 January 2024, which "withdrew recognition" of the federal institutions on 31 March 2024 over the amendments, fought the Islamic State's Somali branch in the Cal Miskaad mountains in the operation of December 2024 to 2025 with American and Emirati air strikes, hosted an American delegation on oil and fisheries on 20 May 2026 and co-founded the Somali Future Council; Jubaland of Kismayo under Ahmed Mohamed Islam "Madobe" since 2013, re-elected on 25 November 2024 in a vote the federal government rejected, the clashes of Ras Kamboni of 11 December 2024 between his forces and the federal army, the Kenyan and Ethiopian troops of AUSSOM in his state; South West of Baidoa, of Laftagareen from 2018 to his fall of March 2026 and of the federal army since; Galmudug of Dhusamareb under Ahmed Abdi Karie "Qoorqoor" since February 2020, the state of the 2022 offensive; Hirshabelle of Jowhar under Ali Gudlawe since 2020; the Banadir region under a federal governor-mayor; the SSC-Khatumo of Las Anod, whose Dhulbahante fought Somaliland out of the town in 2023 and whom the federal government recognized in 2025 as the North Eastern State; SOMALILAND of Hargeisa — independent in its own account since 18 May 1991 on the borders of British Somaliland, with its own constitution of 2001 (97% in its referendum), president, parliament, currency, passport and army, its elections of 2003 to 2024, President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi "Irro" of the Waddani party since 12 December 2024 after Muse Bihi, the port of Berbera of DP World and the Ethiopian trade, the memorandum with Ethiopia of 1 January 2024 for a naval base against recognition that the Ankara Declaration of 11 December 2024 buried, and the recognition by Israel of 26 December 2025, the first by any state, that Somalia took to an emergency Security Council session on 29 December, the Israeli foreign minister's visit to Hargeisa of 6 January 2026 — Somaliland's case of a union never lawfully made and a state of 35 years and Somalia's and the African Union's of one country and the borders of 1960 both stated (LAW 2) |
| The parties | The Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP) of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, launched in 2025 as the national party of the direct-election plan, the winner of the Mogadishu districts of December 2025; the Union for Peace and Development Party (UPD) of 2018, his earlier vehicle, and the Peace and Development Party of 2011; the Himilo Qaran of Sharif Sheikh Ahmed; the Nabad iyo Nolol of Farmaajo; the Somali Future Council (SFC) of 2 October 2025 of the two former presidents, Deni and Madobe; the parties of 1960 to 1969 — the Somali Youth League (SYL) of 1943, the party of independence and of every government to 1969, the Somali National League of the north, the Hizbia Dastur Mustaqil of the Digil and Mirifle; the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party of Barre's one-party state of 1976 to 1991; the armed movements of the war — the Somali National Movement of the Isaaq, the United Somali Congress of the Hawiye, the Somali Salvation Democratic Front of the Majeerteen, the Somali Patriotic Movement — that became the states; Somaliland's three parties of Waddani, Kulmiye and KAAH under its constitution's limit of three |
| Legal system | A mixture of the sharia the Constitution makes the source of all law, the Italian civil code of the south and the English common law of the north of the republic of 1960, and the "xeer," the customary law of the clans of the elders, the diya of the blood money and the compensation that settles most disputes; the Supreme Court of Mogadishu, the Constitutional Court of the constitution never seated, the courts of the federal member states and of Somaliland, the military courts that try the al-Shabaab cases and hand down the death sentences the firing squads carry out at Mogadishu and Puntland — the death penalty in force, the executions of the militants and the soldiers; the Islamic Courts of 2006 and the sharia courts of al-Shabaab's territory that the villagers still bring their cases to for their speed; the Provisional Constitution's bill of rights and the Article 3 of the Islamic character; female genital mutilation of 98% of women, the world's highest rate, the ban of the constitution unenforced; the child marriage; the press freedom of the journalists killed, some 70 since 1992, the most dangerous country of Africa for the trade; the sexual offenses bill stalled since 2018; the anti-corruption law of 2019; the "citizenship" of the 1962 law and the dual nationals of the parliament; the piracy trials of the Seychelles and Kenya of 2009 to 2013; the ICJ judgment of 12 October 2021 on the sea against Kenya |
| Defense and security | The Somali National Army (SNA) of some 20,000 to 30,000 on the rolls, rebuilt since 2009 by Turkey at the TURKSOM camp of Mogadishu of 2017, the largest Turkish base abroad, by the United States for the Danab commando brigade of 3,000, by the European Union, Eritrea, Egypt and the Gulf, the Gorgor brigades of the Turkish training and the Haramcad police; the Somali Air Force of a few aircraft and the Turkish Bayraktar drones; the navy of the coast guard boats; the Macawisley clan militias of the 2022 offensive; THE AFRICAN UNION SUPPORT AND STABILIZATION MISSION (AUSSOM) since 1 January 2025, the successor of ATMIS (2022–24) and AMISOM (2007–22), of some 11,900 troops of Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Egypt, whose funding the UN's hybrid scheme was to carry and the United States refused, and the bilateral Ethiopian troops beside it; the American AFRICOM air strikes of the Trump years at more than 100 in 2025, the largest count ever, and the strikes on the Islamic State in Puntland from 1 February 2025; the UN Transitional Assistance Mission (UNTMIS) of October 2024 that replaced UNSOM and whose mandate ends on 31 October 2026, the UN Support Office of some US$500 million a year that the American funding cut of July 2026 shrank; AL-SHABAAB, the al-Qaeda affiliate of 2006, of some 7,000 to 12,000 fighters that holds the rural south and center, taxes the trade of the ports it does not hold, bombed the Zoobe junction of Mogadishu on 14 October 2017 (587 dead), the Sahafi and Elite hotels, the airport road, and retook Adan Yabaal, Moqokori, Mahas and the Middle Shabelle towns in its offensive of 2025 that reached the capital's edge; the Islamic State in Somalia of the Cal Miskaad mountains of Bari, some 1,000 fighters of the foreign recruits, the Puntland operation of December 2024 to 2025; the Somaliland army of the north and the Puntland Darawish; the Egyptian troops of the defense pact of 14 August 2024 and the Saudi military agreement of 9 February 2026; the arms embargo of 1992 lifted for the government on 1 December 2023 |
| Foreign policy | The great-power tug of the Horn — Turkey, the closest partner since Erdoğan's visit of the famine of August 2011, of the TURKSOM base, the airport and the port concessions of Favori and Albayrak, the hospital, the oil and gas agreement of 2024 and the Oruç Reis surveys of 2024 and 2025, the defense and economic pact of February 2024 of the naval protection for ten years; the United States of the embassy reopened in 2018, the Danab, the strikes, the mediation of 2026 and the aid suspended on 7 January 2026 over the reports of stolen food aid; Ethiopia of the wars of 1964 and 1977, the invasion of 2006, the troops of AMISOM and after, the Somaliland memorandum of 1 January 2024 that broke relations and the Ankara Declaration of 11 December 2024 under Erdoğan that mended them, the sea access Ethiopia still seeks; Kenya of the Jubaland troops, the Dadaab camps, the sea judgment of 2021 and the trade; Djibouti; Egypt of the defense pact of 2024 and the AUSSOM troops of the Nile quarrel with Ethiopia; Saudi Arabia of the livestock and the pact of 2026; Qatar; the United Arab Emirates of the Puntland and Somaliland ties, the Berbera and Bosaso ports and the bilateral agreements the federal government revoked on 12 January 2026 over "sovereignty violations"; China of the fishing licenses and the Belt and Road; Eritrea of the trained troops; Israel of the Somaliland recognition of December 2025 the government called an assault on its sovereignty; the East African Community joined on 4 March 2024; the Arab League since 14 February 1974; the African Union of the Addis Ababa summits; IGAD; the Security Council seat of 2025 and 2026 won on 6 June 2024; the "Ocean" of the piracy patrols of the EU's Atalanta and the Combined Maritime Forces and the hijackings that returned in 2024 and 2026; the debt relief of the Paris Club and the IMF |
| United Nations | Member since 20 September 1960; the Security Council non-permanent seat of 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2026; the Trust Territory of 1950 to 1960 under Italy, the one the UN ran to independence on a date; the missions of the war — UNOSOM I of April 1992, the American-led UNITAF of Operation Restore Hope of 9 December 1992, UNOSOM II of 1993 to 3 March 1995 of the Battle of Mogadishu and the 24 Pakistani and 18 American dead, the withdrawal that left the country to the warlords; the political missions of UNPOS (1995–2013), UNSOM (2013–24) and UNTMIS (2024–26), the support office UNSOS, the arms embargo of Resolution 733 of 23 January 1992 lifted for the government in December 2023, the counter-piracy resolutions of 2008 to 2022, the AUSSOM authorization of Resolution 2767 of 27 December 2024; the famine declarations of 1992 and 20 July 2011; the UNHCR of the 3.8 million displaced; the World Food Programme's largest operation of the continent |
| Other memberships | The Arab League (14 February 1974); the African Union (1963, a founder of the OAU); the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (1969, a founder); the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (1986); the East African Community (24 November 2023, in force 4 March 2024); the Non-Aligned Movement (1961); the IMF and the World Bank (1962); the African Development Bank; the Islamic Development Bank; the Group of 77; the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (2018); the International Criminal Court not ratified; Interpol; the Community of Sahel-Saharan States; the Red Sea Council of 2020 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$13 billion (2025, IMF World Economic Outlook of April 2026); about US$14 billion forecast for 2026; about US$12.2 billion in 2024 — about 150th of the world by an economy the statisticians rebuilt from nothing after 2012 |
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| GDP per capita | About US$760 (2025); about US$810 forecast for 2026 — among the ten lowest of the world by the IMF's count |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$1,900 (2025); the GDP at purchasing power about US$32 billion |
| GDP growth | 4.1% in 2024, 3.0% in 2025 and 2.6% forecast for 2026 by the IMF, the rains, the remittances and the aid, against the drought of 2022 and the floods of 2023, the political crisis of 2026 and the aid cuts of the American suspension of January 2026; inflation about 4 to 5% on the imported food and fuel; the current account deficit of a fifth of GDP the remittances and the aid cover; the public debt cut from US$5.3 billion to about US$600 million, 6% of GDP, by the HIPC completion point of 13 December 2023 and the Paris Club's cancellations of March 2024, the IMF's Extended Credit Facility of 2023 to 2026; the exchange rate of the shilling steady on the dollarization; the "resilience" of a stateless economy that grew through 30 years of war in the economists' phrase |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture about 60% to 70% of GDP by the older counts and about 40% by the newer — the livestock above all, some 40% of GDP and half the export earnings, the camels, sheep and goats of the nomads and the exports to the Gulf; the bananas, sorghum, maize, sesame and sugar of the rivers; the fish; industry about 10% — the sugar of Jowhar and Mareerey of the past, the textiles, the cement of Berbera, the bottling, the fish canning of Las Qoray, the light industry of Mogadishu and Hargeisa, the construction boom; services about 50% and rising — the telecoms and the mobile money of Hormuud, Somtel, Telesom and Golis, the remittance houses of Dahabshiil, Amal and Taaj, the trade of the ports and the qaad, the transport, the aid economy of Mogadishu, the state of a budget of a billion dollars; the informal economy of 80% of the jobs; the women of the markets |
| Currency | Somali shilling (SOS) — about 570 to the U.S. dollar in the south, the notes of before 1991 and the counterfeits; the Somaliland shilling of the north at about 8,500; the dollar the reserve of every trader and the mobile money the cash of the country; the Central Bank of Somalia of 1960, reopened in 2009, and its new notes of the IMF plan |
| The livestock and the farms | The camels, some 7 million, the most of any country, the sheep and goats of some 40 million and the cattle of 5 million — the livestock the herders drive to Berbera and Bosaso for the Saudi Hajj trade, 4 to 5 million head a year in the good years, the Saudi bans of 2000 to 2009 and the Gulf quarantines the recurring blow, the hides and skins; the bananas of the Jubba and the Shabelle of the Italian plantations of the 1920s that Somalifruit exported to Italy and the Gulf until the war and the floods of 1997 and the Kismayo fighting ended them; the sorghum of Bay and Bakool, the "granary" of Baidoa, the maize, the sesame, the cowpeas, the sugar of the Jowhar and Jubba estates the Chinese and Italians built and the war wrecked; the frankincense and myrrh of Sanaag and Bari, the world's first producer, the "Somali gum"; the qaad the state taxes at the airports and the Kenyan and Ethiopian planes bring daily; the fish of the coast the 30,000 fishers of the dhows and the foreign fleets of the licenses; the famine relief of the WFP the largest "crop" of the bad years |
| The telecoms and the money | Hormuud Telecom of 1998, the largest company of the country, of the EVC Plus mobile money of millions of users, the "SMS money" of every shop, camel trader and mosque, the towers of every town and the fiber of the coast; Somtel of Dahabshiil, Telesom of Somaliland of the Zaad of 2009, the first mobile money of the Horn, Golis of Puntland; the cheapest calls of Africa of a market without a regulator until the communications law of 2017; the remittance houses of the hawala — Dahabshiil of Burao of 1970, the largest, Amal, Taaj, Iftin — that moved the US$1.6 billion to US$2 billion of the diaspora through the war and the American bank closures of the "de-risking" of 2015; the banks of the 2010s — Salaam Somali Bank, Premier, IBS, Dahabshil Bank — of the Islamic finance; the dollar and the counterfeit shillings; the central bank's licensing since 2014 and the new banknotes of the plan; the Bakara market of Mogadishu, the largest of the country, of the arms and the rice both |
| Trade | Exports of about US$1.1 billion a year — the livestock to Saudi Arabia, Oman, the Emirates and Yemen at half or more, the frankincense and myrrh, the hides, the fish and the lobster, the sesame and the charcoal the UN banned in 2012 and the boats still carry; imports of about US$9 billion — the rice, the sugar, the pasta, the flour and the oil, the fuel, the qaad from Kenya and Ethiopia, the vehicles and the electronics of Dubai, the cement and the steel of the building boom, from the Emirates, China, India, Turkey, Kenya, Ethiopia and Oman; the deficit of eight to one the remittances and the aid fill; the ports of Mogadishu, Berbera, Bosaso and Kismayo of the customs the states and the federal government fight over; the East African Community's tariff since 2024; the "trade" of the pirates of the ransoms of 2008 to 2012, some US$400 million; the Berbera corridor of the Ethiopian imports the DP World port courts |
| Energy and water | Electricity of the private generators — the Mogadishu of BECO, the Hargeisa of the electric companies, the Bosaso, the diesel at among the highest tariffs of the world, US$0.50 to a dollar a unit; the solar and the wind of the Somaliland and Puntland plants of the 2010s and the hybrid plants of BECO; the access of about 60% of households by the government's count of 2024, from 15% in 2012, the 80% target of 2029; the oil and gas of the offshore blocks — the Coastline Exploration agreement of 2022, the Turkish deal of March 2024 and the Oruç Reis seismic ship of October 2024 to 2025, the Turkish Petroleum drilling the two governments announced for 2026, the Liberty Petroleum blocks, Somaliland's Genel Energy and the Puntland blocks the states license against the federal law; the charcoal of the kitchens; the water of the boreholes, the wells of the clans, the berkads of the rainwater and the Shabelle, the desalination of the coast towns of the plans, the "water wars" of the droughts; the Turkish and Chinese roads |
| Public finances | The federal budget of about US$1.1 billion to 1.4 billion a year — the customs of Mogadishu's port and airport, the taxes of the telecoms and the sales tax of the capital on one side, the grants of the World Bank, the Union, Turkey, the Gulf and the Arab states of half or more on the other; the wages of the soldiers and the civil servants the donors long paid through the World Bank; the IMF programs since 2020 of the staff-monitored and the Extended Credit Facility of 2023 to 2026 that carried the HIPC completion point of 13 December 2023, the debt of US$5.3 billion of the Barre years cut to some US$600 million by the Paris Club, the Arab funds, the IMF and the World Bank, the country freed of a debt it never serviced; the new shilling notes of the plan; the American aid suspension of 7 January 2026 over the reports of the stolen food aid and the UN logistics cut of July 2026; the customs of Puntland, Jubaland and Somaliland the federal budget never sees; the al-Shabaab "taxes" of the Bakara market and the ports that rival the state's; the zakat and the diaspora's money the real welfare state |
| Income classification | Low income (World Bank); least developed country (UN, since 1971); a fragile state by every index |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airports | Aden Adde International Airport (MGQ) of Mogadishu, on the coast west of the city beside the Halane compound of the missions, named for the first president — the Turkish-built terminal of 2015 of the Favori company's concession, the flights of Turkish Airlines since 2012, the first Western-linked carrier of the peace, Ethiopian, Qatar Airways, flydubai, Air Arabia, EgyptAir, Kenya Airways and the Somali carriers, the Fokker 50 of the water landing of 10 February 2026 whose 55 all survived; Hargeisa Egal International Airport of Somaliland of the Ethiopian, flydubai and Air Arabia flights; Berbera of the 4,140-meter runway the Soviets built in the 1970s for their bombers and NASA listed for the shuttle, the longest of Africa, rebuilt with Emirati money in the 2020s; Bosaso, Kismayo, Garowe, Baidoa, Galkayo, Beledweyne and the strips of the towns; the airlines — Somali Airlines of 1964, the flag carrier that died with the state in 1991, the Daallo Airlines of 1991 of Djibouti and the Jubba Airways of 1998 that kept the country flying through the war, the African Express, the qaad planes from Nairobi and Wajir every morning; the Somali Civil Aviation Authority of the airspace the country took back from the UN's management in 2018 |
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| Ports | Mogadishu — the port of the Benadir coast run by Turkey's Albayrak since 2014, the container and the general cargo of the south, the new Mogadishu maritime port of the US$850 million plan for 2028; Berbera — the deep-water port of Somaliland of the Soviet and American years, DP World's since 2016 on a 30-year concession with the Ethiopian and the Somaliland governments, the new container terminal of 24 June 2021 of 500,000 TEUs a year and the corridor road to the Ethiopian border of Wajaale of 2021, the free zone of 2024 and the Emirati military base of the Yemen war of 2017 turned civil airport; Bosaso — the port of Puntland of the livestock and the Gulf trade, P&O Ports of Dubai since 2017; Kismayo — the port of Jubaland at the Jubba's mouth, the charcoal port of al-Shabaab until 2012 and of the Kenyan army since; Merca and Brava of the old dhows; the Hobyo port of the Qatari plan and the Garacad port of Mudug of 2021; the Eyl and Garacad of the pirates of 2008 to 2012 and the hijackings of April 2026; the first Somali-flagged vessel since 1991 registered on 2 April 2026 |
| Railways | None — the Italian Mogadishu–Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi (Jowhar) line of 114 km of 1914 to 1927 the British dismantled in 1941 for the war; the Berbera–Addis Ababa railway of the Ethiopian and Somaliland plans; the dhow and the camel the old transport of the country |
| Roads | About 22,000 km (13,700 mi) by the old count, some 2,600 to 2,900 km of them paved and most of the tarmac of the Italian and Chinese years of 1960 to 1990 broken by 30 years without repair — the Mogadishu–Afgooye–Baidoa road of the Chinese of 1974, the Mogadishu–Jowhar–Beledweyne, the Kismayo–Jilib, the Garowe–Bosaso road of the Italians of the 1980s, the Hargeisa–Berbera–Wajaale corridor of Somaliland rebuilt by the Emirates in 2021, the Hargeisa–Burao, the Mogadishu ring road and the Turkish-built city streets; the roadblocks of the militias and al-Shabaab that tax every truck, the "checkpoint economy" of the south; the minibuses and the Land Cruisers of the bush, the trucks of the qaad and the livestock; the right-hand driving of the law and the Dubai imports of both sides; the Somaliland and Puntland roads the states keep; the Mogadishu traffic of the tuk-tuks (bajaj) of the 2010s |
| City transport | Mogadishu — the bajaj tuk-tuks of the 2010s that replaced the walk and the donkey cart, the minibuses of the Bakara routes, the taxis of the airport road and the armored cars of the missions, the Liido beach on Fridays; Hargeisa of the taxis and the buses; the donkey carts of the water; the camels of the nomads and the dhows of the coast |
| Utilities | The private electricity of BECO and the town companies; the water of the boreholes and the trucks, the Somaliland and Puntland water agencies, the Mogadishu water of the Turkish and the Chinese wells; Hormuud, Somtel, Telesom and Golis of the mobile phones of some 75% of the people, the fiber-optic of the DARE1 and EASSy cables of the coast and the G2A of Somaliland, the cheapest internet of Africa in the Mogadishu of the cafés; the Radio Mogadishu of 1951 and the SNTV; the hospitals of the Turks (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Hospital of 2015), the Somali diaspora, the Banadir and the Medina; the schools of the private "umbrella" networks; the garbage of the camps and the beach; the Somali Postal Service revived in 2013 |
| The country | Mogadishu of the Liido beach, the Hamar Weyne old town of the Fakhr al-Din mosque and the Arba'a Rukun, the cathedral ruin, the Bakara market, the National Museum and the lighthouse; Laas Geel of the rock paintings above Hargeisa; Berbera of the Ottoman and Italian old town and the whale sharks; Zeila of the Adal ruins and the Saad al-Din islands; the Cal Madow and the Daallo forest of Sanaag; the Hafun peninsula and the Cape of Guardafui lighthouse of 1924; Eyl of the pirates' cove; the Bajuni islands of Kismayo; the Kismayo National Park; Baidoa; the Sheikh mountain pass of Somaliland; the frankincense hills of Bari; the tombs of the sheikhs of Bardera; the dunes of Hobyo |
History in dates
| c. 3000 BC | The Laas Geel herders paint their cattle |
|---|---|
| c. 2500 BC | The Egyptian voyages to Punt |
| 1st century | The Periplus names the Somali ports of Opone and Sarapion |
| 700s–900s | Islam reaches the coast; Zeila and Mogadishu |
| 1269 | The Fakhr al-Din mosque of Mogadishu |
| 1331 | Ibn Battuta at Mogadishu |
| 1417 | Zheng He's fleet at Mogadishu |
| 1529–43 | Ahmad Gurey's war on Ethiopia |
| 1500s–1600s | The Ajuran sultanate of the Shabelle |
| 1884 | The British protectorate of Somaliland |
| 1889 | The Italian protectorates of the Benadir |
| 1899 | The Dervish revolt of Sayyid Mohammed — to 1920 |
| 1936 | Italian East Africa |
| 1941 | The British take Mogadishu, 25 February |
| 1943 | The Somali Youth League |
| 1950 | The UN Trust Territory under Italy, 1 April |
| 1954 | The flag, 12 October |
| 1956 | The arms, 10 October |
| 1960 | Somaliland independent, 26 June; the union, 1 July; the UN, 20 September |
| 1964 | The Ogaden border war |
| 1969 | The last direct election, 26 March; Shermarke assassinated, 15 October; Barre's coup, 21 October |
| 1972 | The Somali script, 21 October |
| 1974 | The Arab League, 14 February; the literacy campaign |
| 1977 | The Ogaden War, 13 July — to 15 March 1978 |
| 1988 | The SNM war; Hargeisa bombed, May |
| 1991 | Barre falls, 26 January; Somaliland declares, 18 May |
| 1992 | The famine; UNITAF lands, 9 December |
| 1993 | The Battle of Mogadishu, 3–4 October |
| 1995 | The UN leaves, 3 March |
| 1998 | Puntland, 1 August |
| 2000 | The Arta government, 27 August |
| 2004 | The Transitional Federal Government — Yusuf, 14 October |
| 2006 | The Islamic Courts take Mogadishu, June; Ethiopia invades, 24 December |
| 2007 | AMISOM, 1 March |
| 2009 | Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, 31 January |
| 2011 | The famine declared, 20 July; al-Shabaab leaves Mogadishu, 6 August |
| 2012 | The Constitution, 1 August; Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, 10 September |
| 2017 | Farmaajo, 8 February; the Zoobe bomb, 14 October — 587 dead |
| 2020 | The stadium reopens; Cyclone Gati, 22 November |
| 2022 | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud again, 15 May; the offensive; the drought |
| 2023 | Las Anod, February; the floods, November; debt relief, 13 December |
| 2024 | The Ethiopia–Somaliland memorandum, 1 January; the amendments, 30 March; the EAC, 4 March; the Egypt pact, 14 August; the Ankara Declaration, 11 December; Irro, 12 December |
| 2025 | AUSSOM, 1 January; the Cal Miskaad operation; the al-Shabaab offensive; the Somali Future Council, 2 October; the Mogadishu vote, 25 December; Israel recognizes Somaliland, 26 December |
| 2026 | The amendment, 4–5 March; Baidoa taken, 30 March; the term expires, 15 May; the talks fail, 15 May; Baidoa attacked, 17 August; the election agreement, 1 September; the UN speech, 24 September |
Records & firsts
| The longest coastline of mainland Africa | 3,333 km |
|---|---|
| The largest camel herd in the world | About 7 million |
| The world's first producer of frankincense | The Bari and Sanaag hills |
| The longest runway of Africa | Berbera, 4,140 m |
| Among the oldest rock art of Africa | Laas Geel, c. 3000 BC |
| Among the highest fertility rates | About 6 |
| Among the most remittance-dependent | US$1.6–2 billion a year |
| Among the most mobile-money economies | Seven in ten adults |
| The deadliest bombing of Africa | Zoobe, 14 October 2017, 587 |
| The famine of 2011 | About 260,000 dead |
| The longest without a census | Since 1975 |
| The one world title | Abdi Bile, 1,500 m, 1987 |
| The first one-person-one-vote since 1969 | Mogadishu, 25 December 2025 |
| The debt relief of 2023 | US$5.3 billion to US$0.6 billion |
| The peak of the piracy | 237 attacks, 2011 |
| The lowest HDI but one | 0.404, 192nd |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Somalia?
The Federal Republic of Somalia — Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya in Somali and Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl al-Fidirāliyya in Arabic, its two official languages — the name of the Provisional Constitution of 1 August 2012, after the Somali Republic of the union of 1 July 1960, the Somali Democratic Republic of Siad Barre of 1969 to 1991 and the transitional governments of 2000 to 2012 that followed the collapse of the state. The name is the people's own: the Somali, the nation of the Horn of Africa whose language and herds fill the country and spill into Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya, first written by the medieval chroniclers of Ethiopia, its origin argued between "soo maal," "go and milk," the herdsman's welcome, and the Cushitic root for the dark-skinned; the country is the Land of Punt of the Egyptian voyages by the common reading, the Barbaria of the Greek sailors and the Bilad al-Barbar of the Arabs. The republic of Somaliland in the northwest, independent in its own eyes since 18 May 1991 and recognized by Israel alone since 26 December 2025, is part of it by the constitution and by the United Nations.
What is the capital of Somalia?
Mogadishu — Muqdisho, Xamar to its people — the city on the Indian Ocean of some 2.7 million by the estimates, the largest of the country and of the Somali world, the port of the Arab and Persian traders of the 900s, of the Fakhr al-Din and Arba'a Rukun mosques of 1269, of Ibn Battuta's visit of 1331 and Zheng He's fleet of 1417, the capital of the Ajuran sultanate's coast and of Italian Somaliland from 1889, of the republic since 1960 and of the war of 1991 that tore it between the warlords, of the Black Hawk Down of 3 and 4 October 1993, of al-Shabaab's rule until August 2011 and the truck bomb of 14 October 2017 that killed 587; Villa Somalia of the president, the federal parliament, the Aden Adde airport and the Halane camp of the missions, the Bakara market, the Liido beach, the cathedral ruin of 1928, the Turkish hospital and the port of Albayrak; a city rebuilt in a decade of towers and still fought over by the guns of the politics. Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, of some 1.2 million, is the second city; Bosaso, Kismayo, Baidoa, Garowe, Beledweyne, Galkayo, Berbera, Burao, Merca and Jowhar follow.
How big is Somalia, and how many people live there?
About 637,700 km² (246,201 sq mi) — the size of Afghanistan or of Texas, the easternmost country of the African mainland, the Horn that juts into the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden with 3,333 km of coast, the longest of mainland Africa, and borders of some 2,370 to 2,385 km with Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. No one has counted the people since the census of 1975, which found 3.25 million; the United Nations estimates about 19.7 million for 2025 and the encyclopedias 20.3 million for 2026, a UNFPA survey of 2014 having reckoned 12.3 million — growing near 3% a year on a fertility rate of about six children a woman, the median age about 17, half the people in the towns since the wars and the droughts emptied the pastures, some 3.8 million displaced within the country; about 30 to the square kilometer; Somali by ethnicity to about 85%, in the clan families of the Darod, the Hawiye, the Dir, the Isaaq and the Rahanweyn, with the Bantu farmers of the rivers, the Benadiri and Bravanese of the coast towns and the Arabs the rest; Sunni Muslim almost to a person.
What are the highest and lowest points of Somalia?
Shimbiris, 2,416 m (7,927 ft) by the common figure and 2,460 m by the newer survey, in the Cal Madow range of the Golis Mountains above the Gulf of Aden coast of Sanaag, in the northeast of Somaliland — the juniper forest and the Daallo escarpment of the mountains that drop from the Ogo plateau to the Guban coast, the wettest and greenest corner of a dry country. The lowest point is the sea — the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, on the 3,333 km of coast from Djibouti's border past Zeila, Berbera and the Cape of Guardafui, the tip of the Horn, down the Bari and Mudug shore to Mogadishu, Merca, Brava and Kismayo and the Kenyan border at Ras Kamboni. Between them lie the plateau of the Haud, the Nugaal and Mudug plains of the nomads, and the only two permanent rivers, the Jubba and the Shabelle, that come down from the Ethiopian highlands to the fertile south.
What currency does Somalia use?
The Somali shilling (ISO code SOS), of 100 cents in name, issued by the Central Bank of Somalia — the currency of 1962 that replaced the somalo of Italian Somaliland and the East African shilling of the British north, whose notes have not been printed by the state since 1991: the tattered thousand-shilling notes of the Barre years and the counterfeits the warlords printed pass in the markets at some 570 to the U.S. dollar in the south and the north's Somaliland shilling of 1994 at about 8,500, while the dollar is the real money of the towns and the mobile money of Hormuud's EVC Plus, Somtel's and Telesom's Zaad carries most payments, seven in ten adults using it, the most cashless of poor countries. The central bank has prepared new shilling notes with the IMF's help since 2023, the first of the federal state. Clocks keep East Africa Time, UTC+3, all year; Somalia drives on the right by the law of the republic, on the few thousand kilometers of paved road of Mogadishu, Hargeisa and the Berbera corridor.
Who governs Somalia?
A federal parliamentary republic under the Provisional Constitution of 2012, as amended in 2024 and 2026 — a president elected by the two houses of the Federal Parliament, a prime minister the president appoints, the House of the People of 275 chosen by clan-delegate electoral colleges under the "4.5" formula of the four big clan families and the half for the rest, the Upper House of 54 chosen by the federal member states, and the states of Puntland, Jubaland, South West, Galmudug and Hirshabelle with Somaliland outside it all. On 27 September 2026 the president in office is Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected on 15 May 2022 by 214 votes to 110 over Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo for his second term after 2012 to 2017, and the prime minister is Hamza Abdi Barre, since June 2022 — but the president's four-year term ran out on 15 May 2026, and the parliament's on 14 April, under the constitution of 2012; the amendment of 4 and 5 March 2026, passed by 222 members, lengthened both to five years and put the elections off to 2027, the government calling it the completion of the constitution and the opposition of the Somali Future Council — the former presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Farmaajo, Puntland's Said Deni and Jubaland's Ahmed Madobe — calling his mandate ended and his rule illegitimate; talks under American and British mediation collapsed on 15 May, the army took Baidoa from a rebel state president in March and fought his militia in August, and on 1 September 2026 the president agreed with the opposition to hold elections within seven months, promising the first one-person-one-vote election since 1969 to the UN General Assembly on 24 September (LAW 2).
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