South Sudan
Name
| Official name | Republic of South Sudan — in Juba Arabic "Jumhuriyat Janub as-Sudan"; South Sudan the short form; RSS in the government's own abbreviation; "Junub" in the street |
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| Former names | The Southern Sudan of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1899–1956), the three provinces of Equatoria, Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile behind the Closed Districts Ordinance of 1922 and the Southern Policy of 1930; the Southern Region (Southern Sudan Autonomous Region) of the Addis Ababa Agreement of 27 February 1972 to its abolition of 5 June 1983; "New Sudan," the SPLM's name for its liberated areas; the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 9 January 2005 (9 July 2005 to 9 July 2011); the Republic of South Sudan since 9 July 2011, chosen over "Nile Republic," "Kush" and "Azania" in the debates of 2011 |
| Demonym | South Sudanese; "Junubi" (southerner) in Juba Arabic |
| Meaning of the name | "Sudan" from the Arabic "bilad al-sudan," "the land of the blacks," the medieval Arab geographers' name for the belt of Africa south of the Sahara, taken by the Turco-Egyptian conquerors of 1821 for their province and by the British for the Condominium; "South" for the part of it — the three southern provinces of the Nilotic and Equatorian peoples, Christian and animist, that the north ruled from Khartoum and that fought from 1955 to 2005 to leave; the rejected names of 2011 — "Nile Republic" for the river, "Kush" for the ancient kingdom of the Nubian Nile (which lay in Sudan, not the south), "Azania" for the Greek name of the East African coast; "Junub" in Arabic, "the south," is what its own people say |
| Motto | "Justice, Liberty, Prosperity" — on the scroll of the coat of arms of 2011 |
Quick facts
| Capital | Juba — on the west bank of the White Nile (the Bahr al-Jabal) in Central Equatoria, 4°51′ N, 31°34′ E, the seat of the Southern provinces since 1930 and of the republic since 2011; about half a million to a million people by the estimates, no count since 2008; the presidency (J1), the Freedom Hall, the airport, the Freedom Bridge of 2022; Ramciel in Lakes, the "new capital" announced in 2011 at the country's center, unbuilt |
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| Largest cities | Juba, about 500,000 to a million by the estimates; Wau (Western Bahr el Ghazal), Malakal (Upper Nile, emptied and refilled by the war), Yei, Aweil, Bor, Bentiu (the oil town of the protection site of 100,000), Yambio, Torit, Rumbek, Kuajok, Nimule (the border town of the Uganda road), Renk (the refugee gateway from Sudan), Maban and Bunj (the Doro camps), Kapoeta, Pibor, Nasir, Akobo, Abyei — all estimates; the 2008 census gave Juba 230,195, Wau 151,320, Malakal 126,483 |
| Official language | English, by the Transitional Constitution of 2011 (Arabic dropped); about 60 indigenous languages "national languages" by the constitution — Dinka (Thuɔŋjäŋ) of about a quarter of the people, Nuer (Thok Naath) of about a fifth, Bari, Zande, Shilluk (Chollo), Murle, Otuho (Lotuko), Toposa, Ma'di, Moru, Luo (Jur), Didinga, Mundari, Kakwa, Acholi, Balanda; Juba Arabic, the pidgin of the garrisons, the lingua franca of the towns; Sudanese Arabic of the returnees; Swahili spreading from Uganda and Kenya; the "national languages" of the radio; Dinka and Nuer of the Nilo-Saharan family of 95% of the people, Zande of the Niger-Congo |
| Currency | South Sudanese pound — SSP, £; 100 piasters; the Bank of South Sudan; introduced 18 July 2011 at par with the Sudanese pound; John Garang on every note; about 4,500 to the U.S. dollar at the official rate of 2024/25 (the AfDB) and about 7,100 on the street by July 2026 (the reports); 2.75 in 2011; the central bank governor Addis Ababa Othow, reappointed 30 July 2026 in place of Johnny Ohisa |
| Time zone | Central Africa Time, UTC+2, since 1 February 2021 (UTC+3 from independence to then, with Sudan) |
| Calling code | +211 |
| Internet domain | .ss (delegated 2019) |
| ISO 3166 codes | SS · SSD · 728 |
| Vehicle registration code | SSD |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C, D and G; supply to fewer than one home in ten |
| Independence | 9 July 2011, from Sudan, proclaimed in Juba by the Speaker and by President Kiir before Sudan's President Bashir, Ban Ki-moon and the region, after the referendum of 9–15 January 2011 (3,792,518 for secession, 98.83%, on a turnout of 97.6%) provided by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 9 January 2005; 14 July 2011, the United Nations, the 193rd member; 27 July 2011, the African Union, the 54th; 9 July 2005, the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan; 28 February 1972, the first autonomy of the Addis Ababa Agreement, abolished in 1983 |
| National days | 9 July, Independence Day; 16 May, SPLA Day, of the Bor mutiny of 1983 (the first official celebration since 2013 held on 16 May 2026); 30 July, Martyrs' Day, of John Garang's death of 2005; 9 January, Peace Agreement Day, of the CPA of 2005; 1 January; Good Friday to Easter Monday (3–6 April 2026); 1 May, Workers' Day; Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (27 May 2026); 25 December, Christmas |
| Constitution | The Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 — signed 7 July and in force 9 July 2011, the interim constitution of 2005 rewritten for independence: a president elected for five years, head of state, of government and commander in chief, who names and dismisses the vice presidents, the ministers and (by the amendment of 2015) the governors; the National Legislature of the National Legislative Assembly and the Council of States; the Supreme Court; English; the ten states; a bill of rights; the "permanent constitution" it promised never written; amended for the 2015 agreement, for the 2018 Revitalized Agreement (R-ARCSS, 12 September 2018 — five vice presidents, the 550-member Assembly, the 100-member Council, the unity government of 22 February 2020), for the extensions of the transition of 2022 and 13 September 2024, and in 2026 for the vote — the peace deal amended on 1 July 2026 to defer the census and the permanent constitution, the constitution amended 1 September (assented 2 September), the elections act amended 21–22 September 2026 (an elected Assembly of 270, state assemblies of 58, the incumbents in office to the vote), and the transitional government dissolved by the Republican Order of 22 September 2026 — the government's "removing the obstacles to the ballot" and the opposition's "rewriting the peace deal without its parties" both stated (LAW 2) |
| Population | No census since 2008 — the estimates: about 12.4 million behind the IMF's per-head figure of 2026, 12,703,714 by the encyclopedias' estimate of 2024, 11.5 million by the Factbook of 2022, 15.8 million by another table the encyclopedias carry — all tabled as estimates; 8,260,490 at the census of 22 April 2008 that the south rejected as an undercount; growing about 4% a year by the estimates with the returnees, the natural rate about 2.8%; 2.48 million South Sudanese refugees abroad (July 2026) and 657,379 refugees hosted (31 August 2026) |
| Area | 644,329 km² (248,777 sq mi) by the count the encyclopedias and the UN carry, 619,745 km² by the government's statistics bureau (both ways) — the 42nd to 45th of the world; landlocked; the Sudd wetland of 30,000 to 57,000 km² by the season; the Abyei Area of about 10,500 km² on the Sudan border under a special administration, its referendum never held; the Ilemi Triangle claimed with Kenya |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three horizontal bands of black, red and green, the red edged above and below in thin white stripes, with a blue equilateral triangle at the hoist bearing a yellow five-pointed star, in the proportion 1:2 — the black for the people, the red for the blood of the struggle, the green for the land and its wealth, the white for peace, the blue for the Nile and the star for the unity of the states and the guiding light of Bethlehem; the flag of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, adopted by the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly on 9 July 2005 for the autonomous region after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and raised as the national flag at the independence ceremony of 9 July 2011 in Juba; the same colors as Kenya's flag in a different order, and older than the country by six years.Flag of South Sudan |
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| Coat of arms | The arms of 2011 — an African fish eagle with its wings spread, looking to its right, before a shield of gold over a crossed spear and spade, the scroll "Republic of South Sudan" above and "Justice, Liberty, Prosperity" below; the eagle for strength, resilience, vision and majesty, the spear and the spade for the people's resolve to defend the republic and to feed it; approved by the cabinet in April 2011, endorsed by the legislature in May and adopted at independence in July 2011; on the seals, the passports and the presidential standard |
| National anthem | "South Sudan Oyee!" ("South Sudan, hurrah!") — written and composed by the students and lecturers of the University of Juba in the competition of 2010, 49 poets and musicians with the words and Mido Samuel with the music, chosen in August 2010, approved with the arms in 2011 and sung for the first time as the anthem at the independence ceremony of 9 July 2011; "Oh God, we praise and glorify you for your grace on South Sudan, land of great abundance," the verses of the martyrs and the "land of great warriors" |
| National motto | "Justice, Liberty, Prosperity," on the arms |
| National colors | Black, red, green, white, blue and yellow, the six of the flag; the SPLM's black, red and green |
| National animal | The African fish eagle by the arms, the national bird; no national animal designated — the white-eared kob of the Great Nile Migration, the Nile lettuce of the Sudd, the shoebill of the swamps and the elephant of the Sudd's islands the emblems of the wild; the cattle of the Dinka, the Nuer and the Mundari the wealth and the ornament of the people |
| National flower and tree | None designated; the teak of the Equatorias, the shea and the mahogany, the doum and the borassus palm of the north; the "lulu" (shea) butter of the women's cooperatives |
| National dish | Kisra, the fermented sorghum flatbread, with the stews of okra (bamia), beans, greens and dried fish; asida, the sorghum porridge; wala-wala of the Bari; the roasted goat and the Nile perch of the river; the tea of the Juba tea ladies — widely cited, none designated |
| National sport | Football (the Bright Stars, in FIFA since 25 May 2012, never at the Cup of Nations) and, by the successes, basketball — the Bright Stars of Luol Deng's federation who beat Puerto Rico at the Paris Olympics of 2024, the first team sport the country ever sent, after the World Cup of 2023, in the tradition of Manute Bol; the wrestling of the Dinka, the Mundari and the Nuer, the national league of the cattle camps; athletics of Guor Marial, the marathoner of the 2012 Games under the Olympic flag |
| Heritage listings | UNESCO World Heritage ×1 — the Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape, inscribed on 26 July 2026 by emergency nomination, the country's first: some 12 million hectares of savanna, floodplain and woodland across the Boma and Badingilo national parks and the corridors between, the stage of the Great Nile Migration of about six million white-eared kob, tiang, Mongalla gazelle and Bohor reedbuck, the largest land-mammal migration on Earth by the surveys of 2023, under African Parks' management since 2022; no Intangible Cultural Heritage element; the Sudd a Ramsar wetland since 2006; the tentative list of the Sudd, the Imatong and the Nile |
| Symbol status | The flag and the arms by the Transitional Constitution of 2011 and the Assembly's endorsements of 2005 and 2011; the anthem by the same approval; no law names a flower, a tree, a dish or a sport; the national days by the Public Holidays Act |
Geography
| Location | East-Central Africa — landlocked on the upper White Nile between Sudan (north), Ethiopia (east), Kenya (southeast), Uganda (south), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (southwest) and the Central African Republic (west); 3°30′ to 12°N, 24° to 36°E; Juba 4°51′ N, 31°34′ E; the nearest sea the Indian Ocean at Mombasa, 1,700 km by road |
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| Land borders | 4,797 km by the count the geography pages carry — Sudan 1,937 km, Ethiopia 883, the Central African Republic 682, the Democratic Republic of the Congo 628, Uganda 435, Kenya 232 — and 6,018 km by the Factbook's (Sudan 2,158, Ethiopia 1,299, the CAR 1,055, the Congo 714, Uganda 475, Kenya 317): both stated; the Sudan line of 1 January 1956 undemarcated in five places, Abyei and Heglig among them; the Ilemi Triangle with Kenya; no coast |
| Coastline | None — landlocked; the sea by Port Sudan (the oil pipeline), Mombasa (the goods) and Djibouti |
| Highest point | Mount Kinyeti, 3,187 m (10,456 ft), in the Imatong Mountains of Eastern Equatoria on the Uganda border; the Dongotona and the Didinga ranges; the Boma Plateau of about 1,000 m in the east; the Nuba of the north lie in Sudan |
| Lowest point | The White Nile at the Sudan border north of Renk, about 381 m (1,250 ft) |
| Mean elevation | About 500 m — a plateau of 400 to 900 m with the clay plains of the Sudd below and the Ironstone Plateau of the west and south above |
| Rivers | The White Nile — the Bahr al-Jabal ("Mountain Nile") from Nimule at the Uganda border through the Fula rapids, Juba, Bor and the Sudd to Lake No, the Bahr al-Abyad from there past Malakal to Renk and Sudan; the Bahr el Ghazal of the west (the Jur, the Lol, the Pongo) into Lake No; the Sobat of the east from Ethiopia (the Baro, the Pibor, the Akobo) joining at Doleib Hill; the Kinyeti, the Yei, the Kuru; the Jonglei Canal of 1978–84, dug 240 of its 360 km before the SPLA stopped it; the whole country drained north to Egypt |
| Lakes | Lake No at the Nile's bend, Lake Ambadi and Lake Shambe in the swamps, Lake Yirol, Lake Nyubor; the Sudd itself, 30,000 km² in the dry season and 57,000 or more in the wet, the "barrier" of papyrus, Nile cabbage and floating sudd that stopped the Romans and the Egyptians until 1841 |
| Terrain | The great clay plain of the Sudd and the Nile floodplains in the middle; the Ironstone Plateau of the Bahr el Ghazal and the Equatorias with the granite inselbergs; the Imatong, Dongotona and Didinga mountains and the Boma Plateau in the southeast; the rainforest remnants of Western Equatoria; the flat grasslands of the Boma–Badingilo migration and the Jonglei; the Kapoeta drylands toward the Ilemi |
| Climate | Tropical savanna (Köppen Aw) with the equatorial rainforest edge in the southwest — the rains from May to October, heaviest in the south (Yei about 1,400 mm, Juba about 950 mm, Malakal 800, the north 700), the dry season of November to April with the harmattan dust; Juba 37 °C in March, 20 °C nights in July; the floods of the Nile's high years — 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 the worst in sixty years, a million people affected each year, Bentiu and the Sudd counties under water for years — and the droughts of the east |
| Natural hazards | The floods of 2019–22 (Jonglei, Unity, Upper Nile) and 2024–25 (1.4 million affected by the estimates); the cholera of September 2024 to 2026, the longest and largest outbreak in the country's history (about 96,000 cases and 1,600 deaths by November 2025 by OCHA; 70,000 and 1,100 by WHO's count of February 2026, both stated, 8.6 million vaccine doses); the mpox of Juba of February 2025; the Ebola watch of May 2026 on the Uganda border; the cattle raids and the gold-mine clashes (Jebel Iraq, Central Equatoria, 29 March 2026, about 70 dead); the plane crashes of 29 January 2025 (Unity, 20 dead) and 27 April 2026 (the CityLink Cessna near Juba, 14 dead); the landmines of two wars; the famine declared in Leer and Mayendit in February 2017 |
| Natural resources | Oil — the Dar blend of Upper Nile (Paloich, Adar, Melut) and the Nile blend of Unity (Tharjath, Unity, Toma South), about 3.5 billion barrels of reserves, 75% of the old Sudan's oil in the south's ground and the only pipelines through the north; gold (Kapoeta, Nanakanak, the artisanal diggings of the Equatorias), copper, chromium, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, iron, diamonds and uranium reported; the hardwoods (teak, mahogany), the gum arabic, the shea; the Nile's water and hydropower (the Fula rapids project); the cattle, about 12 million by the estimates; the fish of the Sudd |
| Land use | Arable about 4% farmed of a potential of about 70%, the "breadbasket that imports its food"; forest about 11% (the Equatorias' teak and the miombo), the savanna and the swamp the rest; sorghum on most of the plots, maize, cassava, groundnuts, sesame, millet; the cattle camps of the floodplains; the Nzara and Yambio teak plantations of the 1940s; 143,099 hectares of tree cover lost 2001–24 |
| National parks | Boma (22,800 km², the migration's east), Badingilo (Bandingilo, 10,000 km², the migration's west), Southern (the largest, 23,000 km²), Nimule (the elephants and the Fula rapids on the Uganda border), Shambe (the Sudd), Lantoto (the forest, with the Congo's Garamba), Kidepo (with Uganda's Kidepo Valley); the game reserves of Zeraf (the Sudd's island), Bengangai, Bire Kpatuos, Ashana, Chelkou, Fanyikang, Juba, Kidepo, Mbarizunga, Numatina; African Parks in Boma and Badingilo since 2022; the aerial survey of 2023 that counted about six million antelope on the move, the greatest land migration on Earth |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 1 site — the Boma–Badingilo Migratory Landscape (26 July 2026, natural, by emergency nomination); the poaching "at a scale not witnessed before" and the roads and the oil the threats the nomination named |
| Administrative divisions | Ten states and three administrative areas, restored on 22 February 2020 from the 32 of Kiir's decrees of 2015 and 2017 — Central Equatoria (Juba), Eastern Equatoria (Torit), Western Equatoria (Yambio), Jonglei (Bor), Lakes (Rumbek), Warrap (Kuajok), Northern Bahr el Ghazal (Aweil), Western Bahr el Ghazal (Wau), Unity (Bentiu), Upper Nile (Malakal); the Greater Pibor Administrative Area of the Murle, the Ruweng Administrative Area of the oil (the Abiemnom massacre of 1 March 2026, at least 169 dead) and the Abyei Area under a special status pending a referendum never held, with UNISFA; 79 counties, the payams and the bomas; the governors and the assemblies dissolved on 22 September 2026 with ten caretaker governors and three chief administrators named in their place to the election of 22 December 2026 |
People
| Population | About 12.4 to 12.7 million by the estimates of 2025–26 (no census since 2008's 8,260,490); the returnees from Sudan's war since April 2023 nearly 1.3 million (by November 2025); 2.48 million South Sudanese refugees abroad |
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| Population density | About 19 to 20 per km² by the estimates — the emptiest country of East Africa; the Sudd and the migration plains near empty, the Equatorias and the Bahr el Ghazal the peopled parts |
| Population growth | About 4% a year by the estimates with the returnees (the Factbook's 4.91% of 2022), the natural rate about 2.8% on a birth rate of about 37 per 1,000 and a death rate of about 9.5; the peak of the returns of 2023–25 from Sudan |
| Median age | About 19 years; about 42% under 15, 2.5% over 65 |
| Life expectancy | About 58 to 59 years at birth by the estimates (the Factbook 59.2 of 2022 — men 57.4, women 61.0; the UN about 58), among the lowest of the world; infant mortality about 63 per 1,000; maternal mortality among the highest anywhere |
| Fertility rate | About 4.5 by the UN and 5.3 by the Factbook (both stated); the average age at first birth under 20; the bride-price in cattle |
| Urban population | About 21 to 26% by the estimates; Juba the one city of size; the pastoral majority of the cattle camps and the villages; the protection-of-civilians and displacement sites of Bentiu, Malakal, Juba and Wau — about 900,000 people in displacement sites by October 2025 |
| Adult literacy | About 35% (34.5% by the World Bank's count of 2018), the lowest of the world by most tables; women about 29%, men about 40%; about 2.8 million children out of school, the highest share anywhere; the "Lost Boys" of the 1980s and the schools under trees |
| Ethnic groups | About 60 peoples — the Dinka (Jieng) about 25 to 40% by the counts (the largest; the Bahr el Ghazal, Jonglei, Lakes, Warrap, Upper Nile), the Nuer (Naath) about 15 to 20% (Unity, Jonglei, Upper Nile), the Zande (Azande) of Western Equatoria, the Bari of Juba, the Shilluk (Chollo) of the Nile at Malakal and Fashoda, the Murle of Pibor, the Otuho (Lotuko), Toposa, Didinga and Acholi of Eastern Equatoria, the Ma'di, Kakwa, Kuku, Pojulu and Mundari of Central Equatoria, the Moru, Balanda and Luo (Jur) of the west, the Anuak of the Ethiopian border, the Ngok Dinka and the Misseriya of Abyei; the Nilotic majority and the Equatorians; the census of 2008 counted no ethnicity, and every figure is an estimate |
| Languages | English official; Juba Arabic the lingua franca; Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Zande, Shilluk and the sixty; Swahili from the south; the radio in the national languages; the Arabic of the north in the returnees' mouths |
| Religion | Christian about 60% (Catholic about 37 to 40%, Anglican Episcopal Church of South Sudan about 20%, Presbyterian, Pentecostal), the traditional religions about 33% (the Dinka's Nhialic, the Nuer's Kuoth, the Shilluk's divine kings, the prophets of the Nuer — Ngundeng's pyramid), Muslim about 6% (the Juba traders, the north) — Pew's estimates of 2020 (60.5 / 32.9 / 6.2); Pew's of 2010 gave Catholic 40, Protestant 21, traditional 33, Muslim 6 (both stated); the Catholic missions of Gondokoro of the 1850s and the Comboni fathers, the Anglican CMS of 1906; the Catholic Church the largest institution of the country; the cathedrals of Juba, Wau and Rumbek; the Pope's visit of 3–5 February 2023 with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland |
| Human Development Index | 0.388 (2023), "low," 193rd of 193 — the last of the world (UNDP's report of 2025) |
| Housing and living | The tukul of mud and thatch of the villages and the cattle camps of the floodplains; the tin and the tents of the displacement sites; about 92% below the national poverty line by the AfDB's count of 2025 and 87% in extreme poverty by the World Bank's (both stated); 10 million people, two in three, in need of humanitarian aid by the UN plan of 2026 (US$1.5 billion asked), 7.55 million in acute food insecurity in the lean season of April–July 2026, 2.1 million children acutely malnourished; the famine of 2017; electricity to under 10% of homes, safe water to about 40%; the mobile phones of MTN and Zain to a fifth; the cattle as the bank, the bride-price and the cause of the raids; the highest maternal deaths on Earth by the tables |
| Learning and letters | The University of Juba (1975), Upper Nile University (Malakal, 1991), the University of Bahr el Ghazal (Wau, 1991), Rumbek University, Dr. John Garang Memorial University (Bor); the mission schools of the Comboni fathers; the "Lost Boys" of 1987 who walked to Ethiopia and Kenya; the writers Taban Lo Liyong (the poet of "Eating Chiefs"), Francis Mading Deng (the scholar of the Dinka and the UN's adviser), Nyuol Lueth Tong; the model Alek Wek, the singer Emmanuel Jal, the film "The Good Lie" (2014); the oral epics of the Dinka and the songs of the cattle; the radio of Eye Radio and Radio Tamazuj |
| Sport | Basketball — the Bright Stars, risen within a decade of the federation's founding under Luol Deng (2019): AfroBasket 2021 (the first), the World Cup of 2023 in Manila and the Paris Olympics of 2024 (a win over Puerto Rico), after Manute Bol's 2.31 m of the NBA and the Deng brothers; football's Bright Stars (FIFA 2012, the first win over Equatorial Guinea in 2015, the national coach Malesh Soro dead 20 February 2026); the wrestling of the Dinka Bor and the Mundari; the runners of the refugee camps of Kakuma; the Olympic debut of 2016 in Rio; the athletics of Guor Marial (2012, under the Olympic flag); the South Sudan national stadium of Juba |
| Diaspora | About 2.48 million refugees in the region (July 2026) — Uganda 1,043,375 (Bidi Bidi, once the largest camp of the world), Sudan 682,156 (in a war zone themselves), Ethiopia 483,936 (Gambella), Kenya 210,548 (Kakuma), the Congo 57,150; the diaspora of the wars in the United States (the "Lost Boys" of Nebraska, Minnesota and Georgia; Manute Bol and Luol Deng's families), Australia (the largest South Sudanese community outside Africa after the U.S.), Canada, the United Kingdom, Egypt; the U.S. visas canceled on 5 April 2025 over the deportation quarrel, the travel ban of 16 December 2025 and the end of Temporary Protected Status approved by a court on 7 August 2026; the eight deportees of July 2025 sent from the U.S. to Juba |
Government
| Form of government | A presidential republic under the Transitional Constitution of 2011 — a president who is head of state, of government and commander in chief, elected for five years but never yet elected to the office by the republic; a transitional government of national unity under the Revitalized Peace Agreement of 12 September 2018 (five vice presidents, a 550-member Assembly, a 100-member Council of States, the ten states shared among the parties) that President Kiir dissolved by Republican Order on 22 September 2026, leaving the presidency, the judiciary, the security services and a caretaker cabinet to the election of 22 December 2026; ten states and three administrative areas under caretaker governors and administrators; a state the indexes rank among the least free and the most fragile of the world (the Fragile States Index first from 2014 to 2018 and among the top four since) |
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| President | Salva Kiir Mayardit (SPLM), since 9 July 2011 — President of the autonomous Southern Sudan and First Vice President of Sudan since 11 August 2005, after John Garang's death in the helicopter crash of 30 July 2005; born 13 September 1951 at Akon in the Bahr el Ghazal, a Dinka Rek, an Anyanya fighter at 16 and a Sudanese army officer who joined the SPLA at its founding in 1983 and rose to its deputy command; elected President of Southern Sudan on 11–15 April 2010 with 93%; never elected to the republic's presidency, his term extended by the Assembly in 2015, 2018, 2022 and 2024; the black hat of George W. Bush's gift of 2006 his mark; the candidate of the SPLM for 22 December 2026; sole executive since the order of 22 September 2026 |
| Vice presidents | None since 22 September 2026 — the five posts of the 2018 agreement abolished by the Republican Order: Riek Machar (SPLM-IO), First Vice President from 21 February 2020, under house arrest since 26 March 2025 and suspended from office on 11 September 2025; James Wani Igga (SPLM), the second, moved to the party's secretariat on 10 February 2025 and returned on 17 November 2025; Taban Deng Gai (SPLM-IO, the Kiir wing), the third, since 2020; Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior (SPLM, Garang's widow), the fourth, since 2020; Hussein Abdelbagi (SSOA), the fifth, replaced by Josephine Joseph Lagu on 10 February 2025 and reinstated on 26 February 2026; Benjamin Bol Mel, the businessman named the second vice president on 10 February 2025 and spoken of as the heir, dismissed on 12 November 2025; the elections act of 21–22 September 2026 requires the president to dissolve the vice-presidencies within three months of the poll |
| Cabinet | The caretaker cabinet of 13 named by the Republican Order of 22 September 2026 — Africano Mande Gedima, presidential affairs; Martin Elia Lomuro, cabinet affairs; Cecilia Adut Manyok, foreign affairs; Ayor Akuoch Anok, defense; Rizik Zakariah Hassan, interior; Wek Mamer Kuol, justice; Oboto Mamur Mete, national security; Athian Diing Athian, finance; Awou Daniel Chiang, petroleum; Labanya Margret, trade; Ateny Wek Ateny, information; Michael Makuei Lueth, East African Community affairs; Stephen Par Kuol, peacebuilding — with deputy ministers for foreign affairs, defense and the interior; the transitional cabinet of 35 ministries it replaced had turned over without pause: the interior minister Angelina Teny (Machar's wife) dismissed 19 January 2026 for Aleu Ayieny Aleu, the speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba dismissed 7 April 2026 for Joseph Ngere Paciko, the army chief Paul Nang Majok dismissed 7 May 2026 for Santino Deng Wol (the third change of the command in a year), the finance minister of under three months dismissed the same day, the central bank governor Johnny Ohisa dismissed 30 July 2026 for Addis Ababa Othow, the former finance minister Bak Barnaba Chol arrested at the Uganda border on 27 February 2026, the petroleum minister Puot Kang Chol arrested 5 March 2025 and tried with Machar; the electoral commission's chair Abednego Akok Kacuol dismissed 15 September 2026 for Gabriel Bol Deng Majok |
| The last election | None held by the republic — the election of 11–15 April 2010 for the autonomous region and Sudan (Kiir 92.99% for President of Southern Sudan; the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly of 170; the SPLM's sweep; Sudan's own presidential vote won by Bashir) and the referendum of 9–15 January 2011 (98.83% for secession, 3,792,518 votes) are the only ballots the country has known; the elections due by 9 July 2015 under the constitution were postponed in 2015 to 2018, in 2018 to 2021, in 2020 to 2023, in 2022 to December 2024 and on 13 September 2024 to 22 December 2026 |
| Parliament | None sitting since 22 September 2026 — the Transitional National Legislature of the 2018 agreement dissolved by the Republican Order: the Transitional National Legislative Assembly of 550 (SPLM 332, SPLM-IO 128, SSOA 50, the Former Detainees 10, others 30), reconstituted on 30 August 2021 by appointment, and the Council of States of 100; Speaker Joseph Ngere Paciko from 7 April 2026 (Jemma Nunu Kumba, 2021–26, dismissed) to the dissolution; the house that amended the peace agreement on 1 July 2026, the constitution on 1 September and the elections act on 21 September 2026 and voted itself out; the elected National Legislative Assembly to come of 270 (the transitional 550; the elections act of 2023 had provided 650), 158 by constituency, 110 women's list seats, 47 party-list seats and 17 presidential appointees by the earlier act, and a Council of States of 100 chosen by the state assemblies of 58 |
| The politics of the year | The end of the transition — the road to the first election: the peace deal amended by the Assembly on 1 July 2026 to defer the census and the permanent constitution to after the vote; the constitution amended on 1 September (assented 2 September); the electoral commission's chair replaced on 15 September without stated cause; the elections act amended on 21 September and signed 22 September (the Assembly cut to 270, the incumbents in office to the ballot); the Republican Order of 22 September 2026 (reported 23 September) dissolving the five vice-presidencies, the two houses, the ten states and the three areas, with 13 caretaker ministers, ten governors and three administrators named; voter registration not begun, the commission with about US$1 million in hand by the reports, no constituency map, no civic education, the security arrangements of 2018 (the 83,000 "necessary unified forces") unmade; Riek Machar in the dock since 22 September 2025 (the treason trial before the special court under Judge James Alala Deng, seven co-accused, 16 prosecution witnesses, the sessions closed on 12 January 2026 to shield witnesses, adjourned on 23 September 2026 to the 25th); his SPLM-IO split since April 2025 between Stephen Par Kuol's wing in government and the loyalists of Oyet Nathaniel Pierino in exile who declared the 2018 agreement dead on 26 March 2025; the Jonglei offensive since 24 December 2025 (Akobo taken 12 March 2026 and retaken by the SPLA-IO 13 April, Walgak 5 July, 44 soldiers dead; at least 200 dead and 280,000 displaced by the spring); the Abiemnom massacre of 1 March 2026 (169 dead); the two Ethiopian peacekeepers killed on 24 August 2026 at Pajut; the Warrap cattle-camp attack of 29 August 2026 (49 dead); the government's case — the peace deal honored by the ballot it promised, the obstacles cleared, the courts trying a rebellion — and the opposition's and the observers' — the peace deal "rewritten without its parties" (the SSOA), a vote with no roll, no map, no constitution and the opposition leader in a cage, "credible elections no longer possible" (the ISS), "one man with unfettered control" — both stated (LAW 2) |
| Next elections | 22 December 2026 — the general election for President (two rounds; candidates Salva Kiir of the SPLM, Peter Mayen of the People's Liberal Party, Bol Gai Deng of the Kush Democratic Majority Party and Deng Bol Aruei of the Common People's Alliance among the declared), the National Legislative Assembly and the state assemblies, the first since independence, on the date fixed on 13 September 2024 and confirmed by the commission in June 2026; whether it holds on the day, and whether it is free, disputed (LAW 2) |
| Parties | The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM, the ruling party of the liberation since 1983; chair Salva Kiir; secretary-general James Wani Igga since February 2025); the SPLM-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO, Machar's party of the split of 2013, itself split in 2025 — Stephen Par Kuol's interim chair of April 2025 endorsed by the SPLM and the SSOA, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino's loyalists in exile); the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA, the smaller parties of the 2018 deal; Hussein Abdelbagi); the SPLM-Former Detainees (Pagan Amum, Deng Alor); the Other Political Parties (OPP); the National Democratic Movement (Lam Akol), the People's Liberal Party (Peter Mayen), the Kush Democratic Majority Party, the Common People's Alliance, the United Democratic Salvation Front; the holdout groups of the Tumaini talks of Nairobi (May 2024–) — Pagan Amum's Real-SPLM, Paul Malong's SSUF, Thomas Cirillo's NAS; the Kit-Gwang faction of Simon Gatwech; the White Army of the Nuer youth, no party |
| Legal system | Common law of the English line with customary law of the chiefs' courts for most of the people — the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Benjamin Baak Deng since 2025, after Chan Reec Madut's fourteen years from 2011), the Courts of Appeal, the High Courts, the county and the customary courts; the Judiciary Act of 2008; the death penalty in force and carried out (the hangings of Juba and Wau); the Special Court for National Crimes of 2025 trying Machar; the Hybrid Court for South Sudan of the 2015 and 2018 agreements under the African Union never established, the Security Council still calling for it in April 2026; the National Security Service Act of 2024 with its arrest without warrant; the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing and the Compensation and Reparation Authority legislated in 2024, unformed; the arms embargo, the sanctions and the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan's reports of "state-sanctioned" abuses (the government's denials stated) |
| Defense | The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF, the SPLA renamed in 2017; the official name keeps the British spelling) — about 185,000 by the government's claims and far fewer effective by the estimates, the air wing of the helicopters and the drones (the strikes on the hospitals of Fangak, 3 May 2025, seven dead, and Lankien, 3 February 2026), the Tiger Division of the presidential guard; General Santino Deng Wol chief of defense forces since 7 May 2026 (Paul Nang Majok dismissed twice in a year); the 83,000 "necessary unified forces" of the 2018 agreement of whom about 55,000 graduated in 2022 without pay or arms; the Uganda People's Defence Force in Juba and along the Nile since 11 March 2025 at Kiir's request, its air strikes in Jonglei and Upper Nile by the UN panel's account, its withdrawal demanded by the SPLM-IO and its cost of 39 billion shillings to Kampala; UNMISS, the UN mission since 8 July 2011, 12,500 troops (cut from 17,000) and 2,101 police under Resolution 2820 of 30 April 2026, mandated to 30 April 2027, its patrol ambushed at Pajut on 24 August 2026; the UN arms embargo of 2018; the SPLA-IO, the White Army, the Kit-Gwang and the NAS in the field; the RSF of Sudan's war on the northern border; about 1.5% of GDP on defense by the estimates, the payroll in arrears |
| Foreign policy | Sudan first, of necessity — the pipeline of every barrel to Port Sudan (halted from the rupture of February–March 2024 in the Sudan war to the restart of January 2025), the fees, the border of five disputed stretches and Abyei, the 621,766 Sudanese refugees and the 1.3 million returnees since 15 April 2023, the RSF at Heglig and the northern line; Uganda, the guarantor of the state — the UPDF in Juba since March 2025, the Nimule road, the trade; Kenya of the Tumaini initiative talks of Nairobi (opened 9 May 2024 with the holdout groups, stalled and revived by turns) and of the Mombasa port; Ethiopia of the Sobat and Gambella; the IGAD mediation of 2013–18 and the region's summits; the Troika of the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway, the guarantors of the peace, at odds with Juba — Germany's embassy closed 22 March 2025, Norway's 26 March 2025, the U.S. visas canceled 5 April 2025, the deportees of July 2025, the travel ban of 16 December 2025; China of the oil (CNPC) and the loans (the air traffic control system of 18 May 2026); Israel's aid of August 2025 amid the cholera; the African Union's Hybrid Court unbuilt; the Vatican's peace retreat of 2019 (the Pope kissing the leaders' feet) and the visit of February 2023 |
| United Nations | Member since 14 July 2011, the 193rd and youngest; UNMISS since 8 July 2011 (Resolution 1996), the protection-of-civilians sites of 2013 that sheltered 200,000, its head Nicholas Haysom since 2021 dead in office on 19 March 2026; UNISFA in Abyei since 2011; the arms embargo since 13 July 2018 and the sanctions since 2015, renewed by the Council; the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan of 2016; OCHA's plan of 2026 for 10 million in need (US$1.5 billion); the WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF; the peacekeepers killed on 24 August 2026 the newest of the mission's dead |
| Other memberships | The African Union (27 July 2011), IGAD (2011), the East African Community (the accession treaty of 15 April 2016, a member from September 2016), the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, the Nile Basin Initiative; the IMF and the World Bank (18 April 2012), the African Development Bank; the WTO an observer; the Commonwealth applied for in 2011 and undecided; the Arab League never; the OIC never; the International Criminal Court not a party |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$5.7 billion (2025, IMF World Economic Outlook of April 2026: US$5,733 million; US$4,637 million in 2024, the year the pipeline broke) and about US$6.1 billion projected for 2026 — about 170th of the world, one of the smallest economies of Africa; about US$13 to 14 billion at the oil peak of 2013–14 by the older tables |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$460 (2025, IMF, on its population estimate) and US$488 projected for 2026, 190th or so of the world; among the five poorest countries on Earth by every table; about US$1,600 in 2011 at the oil peak |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$1,500 (2026 projection US$1,540; the PPP GDP about US$19.2 billion in 2026, US$15.2 billion by the 2025 estimate the encyclopedias carry) |
| GDP growth | A whipsaw on the pipeline — −26.1% in 2024 and +46.1% in 2025 by the IMF's calendar years (April 2026), or −27.6% in 2023/24, +4.0% in 2024/25 and +22.0% projected for 2025/26 by the African Development Bank's fiscal years (June 2026), with 4.1% (IMF) or 6.8% (AfDB) beyond — all stated, the difference the fiscal year of 1 July and the oil restart of January 2025; the oil shutdown of 2012 cut GDP by half; the war of 2013 halved it again by some counts |
| Economy by sector | Oil about 70 to 80% of GDP by the counts and more than 90% of the state's revenue and of the exports, the most oil-dependent economy of the world; agriculture and livestock the work of about 80% of the people at subsistence, about 10 to 15% of GDP; the services of Juba (the aid economy, the hotels, the banks, the telecoms); no industry to speak of — a brewery (closed 2016), the small mills and the teak sawmills; the aid of about US$1.5 billion a year the second pillar |
| Currency and prices | The pound about 4,500 to the dollar official (2024/25) and about 7,100 on the street (July 2026), from 2.75 in 2011 and about 130 in 2017 after the float of December 2015 — one of the world's worst-performing currencies of the decade; inflation 234% on average in the fiscal year 2025 by the World Bank's (food) measure against the AfDB's 65.5% for 2024 and 22.2% for 2025 (both stated; the AfDB projects 21.8% and 16.8% ahead); the Bank of South Sudan under Addis Ababa Othow since 30 July 2026, its reserves near nothing; the salaries of soldiers and civil servants two years in arrears by August 2026 |
| Oil | About 157,000 barrels a day by early fiscal 2026 (the World Bank; 156,000 by the AfDB, up from 61,000 during the halt), against 350,000 at the peak of 2011 and 90,000 at the restart of 8 January 2025 — the Dar blend of Upper Nile (Paloich, the Dar Petroleum Operating Company of CNPC, Petronas and Sinopec) and the Nile blend of Unity (the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company of CNPC 40%, Petronas 30% and India's ONGC 25%, Petronas quitting in 2024); every barrel piped 1,600 km through Sudan to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, the fees and the "transitional financial arrangement" of the 2012 deal, the halt of January 2012 to April 2013 over the fees and the halt from the rupture of 20 March 2024 in the war zone (Sudan's force majeure; the exports formally suspended on 27 August 2024) to the restart of 8 January 2025; the oil-backed loans and advances of Juba's books; the Nilepet state company; the Ruweng and Unity fields the country's treasure and its curse |
| Agriculture, cattle and gold | Sorghum the staple and the beer, maize, cassava, groundnuts, sesame, millet, the vegetables of the Equatorias, the coffee of Yei and the tea of the Imatong of old, the gum arabic, the shea (lulu); the cattle about 12 million by the estimates, the goats and sheep, the herds the wealth, the bride-price and the cause of the raids (Warrap, 29 August 2026, 49 dead); the fish of the Sudd; the teak of Western Equatoria, the one export beside oil; gold from the artisanal diggings of Kapoeta and the Equatorias, smuggled through Uganda and Kenya (the Jebel Iraq clash of 29 March 2026, about 70 dead); the famine of 2017 in Unity; the WFP feeding millions; the "breadbasket" that imports its grain from Uganda |
| Services and finance | The Bank of South Sudan (2011), Kenya's KCB, Equity and Co-operative banks, Ethiopia's, the Stanbic; the mobile money of MTN and Zain's m-Gurush; no stock exchange; the hotels and the NGO economy of Juba; the telecoms of MTN South Sudan, Zain and Digitel; the Juba Electric Distribution Company's rotating cuts since 26 March 2026; the aid of the UN and the NGOs, about a quarter of the economy by the estimates; the corruption the Sentry and the auditors chart — the "oil for roads" contracts, the dura saga of 2008, the US$58 million the prosecutors count at Nasir |
| Trade | Exports about US$3 to 4 billion at the oil's flow, oil more than 95% — to China about 50%, Singapore about 29%, the UAE about 10% (the refiners and the traders), the teak and the gold the rest; imports about US$3 to 4 billion — from Uganda about 33% (the food, the fuel and the cement by the Nimule road), the UAE about 26%, Kenya about 14%, China, Ethiopia, Sudan (before its war) — the food, the fuel, the vehicles, the machinery; a trade surplus on paper when the oil flows and a current-account deficit of 6.5% of GDP in 2024/25 by the AfDB (−0.4% projected for 2025/26); the Nimule and Nadapal border posts; the EAC customs union joined on paper |
| Energy | Electricity to fewer than one home in ten (about 8% access, the lowest of the world), about 200 MW of capacity in a country of 12 million — the Juba plant of the Ezra group of 2019 (100 MW, diesel and heavy fuel, run down), the generators of every compound, the solar of the NGOs; the rotating cuts of Juba from 26 March 2026; the oil that leaves crude and comes back as fuel from Kenya and Uganda by tanker over the Nimule road, the pumps of Juba dry by turns; the Fula rapids hydropower project of 42 MW at Nimule, promised for a decade; the charcoal and the firewood of nine homes in ten; the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam's power offered |
| Tourism | Almost none — a few thousand visitors of the aid, the oil and the business; the Boma–Badingilo migration of six million antelope, the world's greatest and least visited, opened to a first few by African Parks since 2023; Nimule park's elephants at the Fula rapids; the Sudd's shoebills; the Mundari cattle camps of the photographers; Juba's Nile; the Imatong; the visa and the security the bars; the U.S. and most states advise against all travel |
| Labor and wages | About 80% of the people in subsistence farming and herding; the civil service and the army the salaried, paid late by months and years (two years of arrears by August 2026), the pound's fall wiping the pay of about 100,000 soldiers and 400,000 officials; the minimum wage on paper; the aid agencies the best employers; the boda-boda riders, the tea ladies and the market women of Juba; the child labor of the cattle camps and the mines; the unemployment uncounted |
| Public finances | The budget of about US$2.2 billion for the fiscal year 2026/27 (July to June), oil more than 90% of the revenue, with a "fiscal surplus" on paper of 2.0% of GDP in 2024/25 and 1.6% projected (the AfDB) beside the arrears of salaries and the oil advances; the public debt about US$3 to 4 billion by the estimates, much of it oil-backed advances from the traders and the loans of China, Qatar and the Afreximbank, in arrears; the IMF's rapid credit of 2020–21 (about US$226 million in two tranches) and its staff-monitored programs; no sovereign rating; the reserves near nothing; the corruption index of Transparency International last or next to last of 180 in 2024 and 2025; the oil revenue that the Sentry and the auditor general trace into the pockets of the elite |
| Income classification | Low income (the World Bank); a least developed country of the UN list (since 2012); a fragile and conflict-affected state; the last of the Human Development Index (193rd), of the corruption index (180th) and the first of the Fragile States Index by turns with Somalia and Sudan; among the humanitarian crises the UN counts the most severe on Earth |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airports | Juba International (JUB), on the Nile bank at the city's edge, the one paved international field — the terminal of 2018, the runway of 2,400 m, about half a million passengers a year by the estimates on Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, Uganda Airlines, flydubai, EgyptAir, Turkish and RwandAir and the charters of the UN and the oil; the first air traffic management system of the country, built with China, inaugurated 18 May 2026; Wau, Malakal, Rumbek, Paloich (the oil), Yambio, Aweil, Bentiu and the dirt strips of every county town, the UN Humanitarian Air Service's network the country's real airline; no national carrier; the crashes of 29 January 2025 (Unity, 20 of 21 dead) and 27 April 2026 (the CityLink Cessna Caravan near Juba, all 14 dead) |
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| Ports | None — landlocked; the river ports of the White Nile at Juba, Bor, Malakal and Renk for the barges and the cargo boats to and from Sudan (Kosti) when the war and the water allow, the ferries of Malakal; the sea by Mombasa (Kenya) for the imports over the Nimule road and by Port Sudan for the oil; the LAPSSET corridor to Lamu on paper |
| Railways | One line of 248 km, the narrow-gauge Babanusa–Wau railway of 1961 from Sudan's network, wrecked in the second war, rebuilt with UN money and reopened in 2010, idle since the Sudan war of 2023 and the border; the standard-gauge lines to Uganda and Kenya of the plans; no train in the country |
| Roads | About 17,000 km of road, a few hundred km of it paved by the counts — the Juba–Nimule highway of 192 km to the Uganda border, built with U.S. aid and opened in 2012, the lifeline of every import; the Juba–Bor and Juba–Terekeka roads, the Juba–Yei and Juba–Rumbek of the "oil-for-roads" contracts of 2019–22 with their arrears; the Wau–Aweil, the Malakal–Renk; the roads of the Bahr el Ghazal and Jonglei mud in the rains from May to October; the Freedom Bridge of Juba across the Nile, 560 m, opened 19 May 2022 with Japan's aid beside the old Bailey bridge of 1972; the buses and lorries of Uganda and Kenya; the ambushes of the Nimule road; about 100,000 vehicles by the estimates |
| City transport | The boda-boda motorcycle taxis, the rickshaws (the "raksha"), the minibuses and the taxis of Juba; the Konyo Konyo and Customs markets; the walk; the Nile crossings by boat; no public transit system anywhere |
| Utilities | Electricity to about 8% of the people, Juba's grid of the Ezra plant and the diesel of every compound, the rotating cuts of 2026; water from the Nile by tanker and from the boreholes of the NGOs, safe water to about 40%; the mobile phones of MTN and Zain to about a fifth of the people, the internet to about a tenth (the fiber from Uganda since 2021); the state broadcaster SSBC, Eye Radio, Radio Miraya of the UN, Radio Tamazuj from abroad; the sewers of nowhere; the plastic of Juba |
| The country | Juba's Nile and its bridges, the mausoleum of John Garang, the Cathedral of All Saints, the Jebel Kujur; the Fula rapids and the elephants of Nimule; the Mundari cattle camps of Terekeka; the Sudd from the air and the shoebill; the migration of Boma and Badingilo across the plains of Jonglei; the Imatong and Mount Kinyeti above Torit; the Zande country of Yambio and the forest of Lantoto; Wau's cathedral of 1913; the Shilluk kingdom of Fashoda (Kodok) on the Nile; Malakal; the Ngundeng pyramid of the Nuer prophet; the Lost Boys' road east across the Pibor to Ethiopia |
History in dates
| c. 3000 BC | The Nilotic and the Sudanic peoples of the upper Nile; the pastoralists of the floodplains; the iron and the sorghum; the Nile the road of the Nubian and the Egyptian traders no farther than the Sudd; the migrations of the Luo (the Shilluk to the Nile at Fashoda in the 1500s, the Acholi south), the Dinka and the Nuer expansions of the 1700s and 1800s, the Zande kingdoms of the Avongara in the west |
|---|---|
| 1500s–1700s | The Shilluk kingdom of the reth at Fashoda (Kodok), founded by Nyikang about 1500; the Funj sultanate of Sennar to the north; the Zande conquests of the Avongara kings in the southwest; the Nuer's spread east over the Dinka lands; the Bari and the Mundari of the Bahr al-Jabal; the Azande of King Gbudwe (1870s–1905) |
| 1821 | Muhammad Ali of Egypt conquers the Funj and opens the Sudan; the Turco-Egyptian government probes the Nile and the Sudd; 1841, the expedition of Salim Qapudan breaks through the Sudd to Gondokoro near Juba; the ivory and the slave traders of the zaribas (Zubayr Pasha) ravage the south from the 1850s; the Verona Fathers of Daniele Comboni at Gondokoro (1850s) and the missions |
| 1869–1881 | Samuel Baker (1869–73) and Charles Gordon (1874–76) as governors of Equatoria for the Khedive against the slave trade; Emin Pasha at Lado; Lado Enclave leased to Leopold's Congo Free State (1894–1910); the Mahdist revolt of 1881 sweeps the north, Khartoum falls in 1885 and the south is cut off; the Mahdists raid the Shilluk and the Dinka |
| 1898–1899 | The Fashoda Incident of September 1898 — Marchand's French column met by Kitchener on the Nile at Fashoda after Omdurman, the empires' closest brush with war, France withdraws; the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium of 19 January 1899; the "pacification" of the south by the Sudan Defence Force through the 1920s, the Nuer prophet Guek Ngundeng killed in 1929 |
| 1922–1930 | The Closed Districts Ordinance of 1922 and the Southern Policy of 1930 — the south sealed from the north, ruled through the chiefs and the missions in English and the vernaculars, meant for a future with British East Africa; 1946, the policy reversed at the Sudan Administrative Conference; 12–13 June 1947, the Juba Conference binds the south to a united Sudan on the promise of safeguards |
| 18 August 1955 | The Torit mutiny of the Equatoria Corps against the northern officers — the First Sudanese Civil War of the Anyanya ("snake venom") begins, four months before Sudan's independence of 1 January 1956; the "Sudanization" that gave the south six of 800 posts; the massacres of Juba and Wau of 1965; Joseph Lagu unites the Anyanya in 1971; about half a million dead in 17 years |
| 27 February 1972 | The Addis Ababa Agreement between Nimeiry and Lagu — the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region with its own assembly and executive at Juba, Abel Alier its first president; Nimeiry's Jonglei Canal of 1978, the oil found at Bentiu by Chevron in 1978 and taken for the north, the "Kokora" redivision of the south into three regions on 5 June 1983 and the September Laws of sharia — the agreement dead |
| 16 May 1983 | The Bor mutiny of Battalion 105 under Kerubino Kuanyin Bol — Colonel John Garang de Mabior, sent to quell it, founds the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army in Ethiopia for a "New Sudan"; the Second Sudanese Civil War of 22 years, about two million dead and four million driven from their homes; the famine of Bahr el Ghazal of 1988 and 1998; the SPLA takes the countryside and besieges the garrisons (Juba, Wau, Malakal) |
| 28 August 1991 | The Nasir split — Riek Machar and Lam Akol break from Garang, the SPLA-Nasir; the Bor massacre of November 1991, some 2,000 Dinka dead by Machar's forces and the White Army; the "Lost Boys" of 1987–92 walking from the Ethiopian camps of Itang and Panyido to Kakuma; the Khartoum Peace Agreement of 1997 of Machar with Bashir; the oil flows from Heglig and Unity through the pipeline of 1999 and pays for the war |
| 20 July 2002 | The Machakos Protocol of the IGAD talks — the south's right of self-determination and the north's sharia; the Naivasha protocols of 2003–04 on wealth, power, Abyei, the Nuba and the Blue Nile; 9 January 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed at Nairobi by Garang and Ali Osman Taha — six years of autonomy, a referendum, the oil shared half and half |
| 30 July 2005 | John Garang, First Vice President of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan for three weeks, dies in the crash of a Ugandan presidential helicopter on the Imatong; the riots of Khartoum and Juba; Salva Kiir succeeds him on 11 August 2005; the Government of Southern Sudan at Juba; the flag of 9 July 2005; the Abyei arbitration of The Hague of 22 July 2009 |
| 11–15 April 2010 | The elections of Sudan — Kiir President of Southern Sudan with 93%, the SPLM sweeps the Southern assembly; 9–15 January 2011, the referendum, 3,792,518 votes for secession, 98.83%; the Abyei referendum of the same day never held, the Misseriya and the Ngok Dinka at odds, the town burned in May 2011 |
| 9 July 2011 | Independence at Juba — the Republic of South Sudan, the flag raised at the mausoleum of Garang before Bashir, Ban Ki-moon and thirty heads of state, the Transitional Constitution signed, Kiir sworn as President; 14 July, the United Nations' 193rd member; 18 July, the pound; 27 July, the African Union; the UNMISS mission of 8 July |
| 20 January 2012 | The oil shut off over the pipeline fees with Khartoum — fifteen months to April 2013, the economy halved; the Heglig crisis of April 2012, the SPLA takes and leaves the oil field under the world's pressure; the Addis Ababa cooperation agreements of 27 September 2012 on the oil, the border and the buffer zone; 2012, the Juba–Nimule highway |
| 15 December 2013 | The civil war — the fighting in the presidential guard in Juba after Kiir's dismissal of Machar as vice president on 23 July 2013 and the "coup" he alleged; the Nuer of Juba killed, the Dinka of Bor, Bentiu and Malakal killed in return, the towns taken and retaken, the White Army on Bor, the UN bases sheltering 200,000; Uganda's army for Kiir; the IGAD ceasefire of 23 January 2014 broken at once; about 400,000 dead by the estimate of 2018, four million displaced |
| 17 August 2015 | The Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict (ARCSS) signed by Machar at Addis Ababa and, nine days later, by Kiir with reservations; Kiir's 28 states of 2 October 2015; Machar back in Juba as First Vice President on 26 April 2016; the fighting of 8–11 July 2016 at J1 and around Juba, 300 dead, Machar fleeing on foot to the Congo, Taban Deng Gai in his place; the famine of Unity declared 20 February 2017; the 32 states of January 2017 |
| 12 September 2018 | The Revitalized Agreement (R-ARCSS) signed at Addis Ababa — five vice presidents, a 550-member assembly, the ten states restored, the 83,000 unified forces, the Hybrid Court, elections at the end of three years; the Vatican retreat of 11 April 2019 where Pope Francis kissed the feet of Kiir and Machar; the unity government of 22 February 2020 with Machar sworn as First Vice President; the ten states of 15 February 2020 |
| 2019–2022 | The four years of floods, the worst in sixty years, a million people affected each year and the Sudd's counties drowned; the COVID-19 of 2020; the Assembly reconstituted on 30 August 2021; the extension of the transition of 4 August 2022 to February 2025; the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of Scotland's Moderator in Juba, 3–5 February 2023, "a pilgrimage of peace" |
| 15 April 2023 | Sudan's war — the SAF and the RSF at Khartoum; the flight south over Renk, about 1.3 million returnees and 620,000 Sudanese refugees by 2025–26; the pipeline through the war zone; 9 May 2024, the Tumaini initiative talks open in Nairobi with the holdout groups; the cholera from September–October 2024, the longest outbreak of the country's history |
| February–March 2024 | The Dar pipeline breaks in the Sudan war zone (the rupture of 20 March 2024), Sudan's force majeure, the exports halted from 27 August 2024 — the economy falls by a quarter, the pound and the salaries with it; 13 September 2024, the elections due in December postponed to 22 December 2026 and the transition extended two years, the fifth postponement; the floods of 2024 (1.4 million affected) |
| 8 January 2025 | The oil flows again through Sudan at 90,000 barrels a day, rising to about 157,000; 29 January, the plane crash of Unity, 20 dead; 10 February, the reshuffle — Bol Mel the second vice president, Josephine Lagu the fifth, Wani Igga to the party; 3 March, the White Army takes the Nasir garrison, 257 soldiers dead by the prosecutors' count; 7 March, the UN helicopter shot at during the evacuation, 27 dead with General David Majur Dak and a UN crewman; 11 March, Uganda's troops in Juba |
| 26 March 2025 | Riek Machar arrested at his home in Juba with Angelina Teny, his SPLM-IO declaring the 2018 agreement over; the embassies of Germany (22 March) and Norway closed; 5 April, the U.S. cancels all South Sudanese visas; April, Stephen Par Kuol installed as the SPLM-IO's interim chair, the party split; 3 May, the air strike on the MSF hospital of Fangak, 7 dead; the deportees of July 2025; 11 September, Machar charged with treason, murder and crimes against humanity and suspended; 22 September 2025, the trial opens in the Freedom Hall, Machar in a cage |
| 12 November 2025 | Benjamin Bol Mel, the second vice president and the presumed heir, dismissed; 17 November, Wani Igga returned; 16 December, the U.S. travel ban; 24 December 2025, the Jonglei offensive opens against the SPLA-IO and the White Army — Waat, Pathai, Yuai, Lankien, Akobo, 280,000 displaced by the spring |
| 19 January 2026 | Angelina Teny dismissed as interior minister; 20 January, the SPLA-IO takes Panyume; 3 February, the drone on the MSF hospital of Lankien; 26 February, Hussein Abdelbagi reinstated; 27 February, the ex-finance minister Bak Barnaba Chol arrested at the Uganda border; 1 March, the Abiemnom massacre of Ruweng, at least 169 dead; 12 March, Akobo taken by the army; 19 March, Nicholas Haysom of UNMISS dies; 26 March, Juba's rotating power cuts; 29 March, the gold-mine clash of Jebel Iraq, about 70 dead |
| 7 April 2026 | Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba dismissed for Joseph Ngere Paciko; 13 April, the SPLA-IO retakes Akobo; 27 April, the CityLink Cessna crash near Juba, 14 dead; 30 April, UNMISS renewed to April 2027 with 12,500 troops (Resolution 2820); 7 May, the army chief Paul Nang dismissed for Santino Deng Wol, the finance minister with him; 16 May, the first SPLA Day parade since 2013; 18 May, the Chinese-built air traffic system; 26 May, the Ebola watch |
| 1 July 2026 | The Assembly amends the peace agreement to defer the census and the permanent constitution to after the vote; 5 July, the rebels take Walgak, 44 soldiers dead; 26 July, Boma–Badingilo inscribed as the first World Heritage site; 30 July, the central bank governor Ohisa dismissed for Addis Ababa Othow; 7 August, a U.S. court approves the end of Temporary Protected Status; 24 August, two Ethiopian peacekeepers killed at Pajut; 29 August, the cattle-camp attack of Warrap, 49 dead |
| 1–2 September 2026 | The Assembly amends the constitution to unhook the election from the census and the permanent constitution, Kiir assents on 2 September; 15 September, the electoral commission's chair Abednego Akok dismissed for Gabriel Bol Deng Majok; 21 September, the elections act amended (the Assembly of 270), signed 22 September |
| 22 September 2026 | The Republican Order dissolving the transitional government of national unity — the five vice presidents, the two houses, the ten states and the three areas — with 13 caretaker ministers, ten governors and three administrators named, Kiir alone in the executive to the vote; reported on state television and the wires on 22–23 September; 23 September, Machar's trial adjourned to the 25th; the opposition alliance's rejection and Amnesty's warning; 22 December 2026, the election set — the calendar as it stands |
Records & firsts
| The youngest country | Independent on 9 July 2011, the newest sovereign state of the world and the 193rd member of the United Nations (14 July 2011); born of the referendum of 98.83%, one of the most lopsided votes ever cast |
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| The last of the tables | Last of the Human Development Index (0.388, 193rd of 193), last or next to last of Transparency International's corruption index (2024 and 2025), first of the Fragile States Index from 2014 to 2018 and among its top four since, the lowest adult literacy of the world (about 35%) and the lowest electricity access (about 8%) |
| The greatest migration | The Great Nile Migration of about six million white-eared kob, tiang, Mongalla gazelle and reedbuck across Boma and Badingilo, counted from the air in 2023 — the largest land-mammal migration on Earth, larger than the Serengeti's, and the country's first World Heritage site (26 July 2026) |
| The Sudd | One of the largest wetlands of the world, 30,000 to 57,000 km² by the season, the swamp that stopped the Romans of Nero's expedition and every explorer until 1841, a Ramsar site since 2006; the White Nile's losses to it half its water |
| The oil dependence | The most oil-dependent state on Earth — more than 90% of government revenue and more than 95% of exports from one product through one pipeline across one neighbor, and an economy that fell by a quarter when it broke in 2024 and rose by nearly half when it flowed in 2025 |
| The worst currency | The pound from 2.75 to the dollar at birth in 2011 to about 7,100 on the street by 2026 — a fall of 99.96% in fifteen years; inflation of 234% on average in the fiscal year 2025 by the World Bank's measure |
| The cattle | About 12 million cattle for about 12 million people, among the highest ratios of the world; the Mundari and Dinka cattle camps of the photographers; the bride-price paid in cows |
| The refugees | Africa's largest refugee crisis before Sudan's — 2.48 million South Sudanese abroad (July 2026), Uganda's Bidi Bidi once the largest refugee settlement of the world; and now a host of 657,000, nearly all from Sudan |
| The longest cholera | The outbreak of September 2024 to 2026, the longest and largest in the country's history — about 96,000 cases and 1,600 deaths by November 2025 by OCHA's count; 8.6 million vaccine doses |
| The first election | None held since independence — five postponements from 2015 to 22 December 2026, fifteen years of statehood without a ballot; the transitional government dissolved on 22 September 2026 to reach it |
| The trial | Riek Machar, the First Vice President of the peace agreement, tried in a cage for treason from 22 September 2025 while still, on paper, in office — a sight without precedent in the region |
| The tallest player | Manute Bol, 2.31 m (7 ft 7 in), the Dinka of Turalei who was one of the two tallest players in the NBA's history (1985–95) and its greatest shot-blocker per minute; Luol Deng of the Bulls, the founder of the Bright Stars who beat Puerto Rico at the Olympics of 2024 in the country's first team-sport Games |
| The Fashoda Incident | Kodok on the Nile, where in September 1898 Britain and France came nearer to war than at any time in a century, and stepped back — the settlement that made the Entente possible |
| The Lost Boys | Some 20,000 boys of the Dinka and the Nuer who walked a thousand miles to Ethiopia and back to Kenya in 1987–92, about 3,800 resettled in the United States in 2001, the subject of "God Grew Tired of Us" and "The Good Lie" |
| The Pope's kiss | At the Vatican retreat of 11 April 2019, Pope Francis knelt and kissed the feet of Salva Kiir and Riek Machar to beg for peace — a gesture without precedent from a pontiff to living politicians; the "pilgrimage of peace" of February 2023 with the Anglican and the Presbyterian primates, the first such joint papal visit |
| The unbuilt capital | Ramciel, the capital announced in 2011 at the country's geographic center, where nothing has been built in fifteen years; Juba, the capital that was a garrison town of 200,000 at the peace and is a city of a million by the guesses |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of South Sudan?
The Republic of South Sudan — the name the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly chose in 2011 over "Nile Republic," "Kush" and "Azania" for the country that voted itself out of Sudan by 98.83% in the referendum of 9–15 January 2011 and was born on 9 July 2011, the youngest country of the world and the 193rd member of the United Nations five days later. "Sudan" is the Arabic "bilad al-sudan," "the land of the blacks," the medieval name for all Africa south of the Sahara, and "South" is the part of it — the Southern Sudan of the British Closed Districts of 1930, the Southern Region of the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972 and of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 — that fought two civil wars of half a century for the right to leave. It is the country of the White Nile and the Sudd, of the Dinka, the Nuer, the Zande and some sixty peoples, of the Great Nile Migration of six million antelope, and of the first national election of its life, set for 22 December 2026 after five postponements.
What is the capital of South Sudan?
Juba — the city on the west bank of the White Nile (the Bahr al-Jabal) in Central Equatoria, 4°51′ N, the Bari town that the British made the seat of the Southern provinces in 1930, where the Juba Conference of 1947 bound the south to the north, the garrison the SPLA besieged through the second war and the capital of the autonomous region of 2005 and of the republic of 2011; about half a million to a million people by the estimates, no one having counted since 2008, on the airport, the Nile bridges (the Freedom Bridge of 2022 given by Japan), Konyo Konyo market, the Cathedral of All Saints, the mausoleum of John Garang and the Freedom Hall where Riek Machar is tried; the presidency, the Assembly (dissolved on 22 September 2026) and the Supreme Court. The government announced in 2011 a new capital at Ramciel, in Lakes state at the geographic center of the country, and the plan has not moved. Wau, Malakal, Yei, Aweil, Bor, Bentiu, Yambio, Torit, Rumbek, Kuajok and Nimule follow.
How big is South Sudan, and how many people live there?
About 644,000 km² (248,777 sq mi) — 644,329 km² by the count the encyclopedias carry, 619,745 km² by the government's own, the 42nd to 45th largest country of the world, the size of France and Belgium together or of Texas, landlocked between Sudan to the north, Ethiopia to the east, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south and the Central African Republic to the west, the White Nile running up its middle through the Sudd, one of the largest wetlands on Earth. Nobody knows how many people live there: the only census, of 2008, counted 8,260,490 and the south disputed it; the estimates for 2025–26 run from about 12.4 million (the IMF's, behind its US$488 a head) to 12.7 million (the encyclopedias') and 15.8 million (another table the encyclopedias carry), while 2.48 million South Sudanese live as refugees in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Congo and 657,000 refugees, nearly all of them from Sudan's war, live in South Sudan. The fertility rate is about 4.5 to 5.3 by the estimates, the median age about 19, four in five people live in the countryside, and two in three, 10 million, need humanitarian aid by the UN's plan of 2026.
What are the highest and lowest points of South Sudan?
Mount Kinyeti, 3,187 m (10,456 ft), the summit of the Imatong Mountains on the Uganda border in Eastern Equatoria, the granite range of the montane forests, the Kinyeti waterfalls and the old tea and timber station of Gilo and Katire, with the Dongotona range beside it, the Didinga hills to the east and the Boma Plateau of 1,000 m above the migration plains toward Ethiopia; the Ironstone Plateau of the west and south at 600 to 900 m; the flatlands of the north and the clay plains of the Sudd, where the White Nile, the Bahr el Ghazal and the Sobat spread over 30,000 to 57,000 km² of swamp by the season, the Ramsar site of 2006 and the largest wetland of Africa. The lowest point is the White Nile where it leaves the country for Sudan north of Renk, at about 381 m — the whole country lies on the plateau of the upper Nile, drained north through the Sudd to Malakal and Khartoum, the river that Sudan's Jonglei Canal of the 1980s, dug to 240 km before the SPLA stopped it, was meant to shortcut.
What currency does South Sudan use?
The South Sudanese pound (ISO code SSP, "SSP" or £), of 100 piasters, issued by the Bank of South Sudan — introduced on 18 July 2011, nine days after independence, at par with the Sudanese pound it replaced, its every note carrying the face of John Garang, the founder of the SPLA who died in a helicopter crash three weeks after taking office as First Vice President of Sudan in 2005; notes of 1 to 1,000 pounds (the 1,000 of February 2021, with ostriches on the back), coins of 10 piasters to 2 pounds. The pound has been among the world's worst currencies: 2.75 to the U.S. dollar in 2011, floated in December 2015, about 4,500 at the official rate of the fiscal year 2024/25 by the African Development Bank and about 7,100 on the street of Juba by July 2026 by the reports, with inflation averaging 234% in the fiscal year 2025 by the World Bank's food measure and 22% by the AfDB's, the oil that pays for more than 90% of the state having stopped for eleven months of 2024 when the pipeline through Sudan's war broke; public salaries by August 2026 were two years in arrears. The U.S. dollar and the Ugandan and Kenyan shillings pass in the markets. Clocks keep Central Africa Time, UTC+2, since the change of 1 February 2021; South Sudan drives on the right.
Who governs South Sudan?
On 27 September 2026, one man and a caretaker cabinet: President Salva Kiir Mayardit of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, President since 9 July 2011 and of Southern Sudan since John Garang's death in 2005, never yet elected to the office by the republic, who by Republican Order of 22 September 2026 dissolved the transitional government of national unity of the peace agreement of 2018 — the five vice presidents, including the suspended First Vice President Riek Machar, the Transitional National Legislative Assembly of 550 and the Council of States, the ten state governments and the three administrative areas — and named 13 caretaker ministers (Stephen Par Kuol at peacebuilding, Athian Diing Athian at finance, Cecilia Adut Manyok at foreign affairs, Ayor Akuoch Anok at defense, Michael Makuei Lueth at East African affairs), ten caretaker governors and three administrators to hold the country until the election of 22 December 2026, the first since independence, in which he is a candidate, after the amendments of July and September 2026 removed the census and the permanent constitution as preconditions. Machar, under house arrest since 26 March 2025, is on trial for treason, murder and crimes against humanity over the Nasir fighting of March 2025 before a special court in Juba; his SPLM-IO is split between his loyalists in exile and Par Kuol's wing in government. The government calls the order the road to the ballot; the opposition alliance and the rights groups call the vote impossible to hold freely with no voter roll, no permanent constitution, the opposition's leader in the dock and Uganda's troops in Juba — both stated. UNMISS keeps 12,500 troops in the country to 30 April 2027.
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