16 Fun Facts about Equatorial Guinea

1. Where is Equatorial Guinea?

Equatorial Guinea is a small country on the west coast of central Africa.

It is bordered by Cameroon to the north and Gabon to the east and south. To the west lies the Atlantic Ocean. The coordinates for Equatorial Guinea are 1.5000° N, 10.0000°

2. Equatorial Guinea is fairly large.

The total land area of this beautiful country is 10,831 square miles (28,051 square kilometers). Equatorial Guinea’s population was 1.403 million in 2020.

3. What’s the capital of Equatorial Guinea?

The capital is Malabo, which is actually situated on Bioko island and not on the mainland, has a population of 297,000 (2018).

The Equatorial Guinea Flag

4. The life span is fairly short.

The average life span here is 58.40 years (2018).

5. It’s a very warm country.

Equatorial Guinea enjoys a tropical, hot and humid climate with little temperature variation, so make sure you pack your shorts!

6. It’s mainly beach terrain here.

The terrain here features large coastal plains with gorgeous sandy beaches, contrasting with the wonderful inland hills. Oh how we want to explore!

7. Residents of Equatorial Guinea are very well-read.

The residents here have the highest literacy rate of the entire Sub-Saharan Africa.

8. What’s in a name?

Equatorial Guinea’s name comes from its proximity to both the equator and the Gulf of Guinea.

9. The country is multilingual.

Spanish, Portuguese and French are the official languages of Equatorial Guinea – that’s quite a range!

Mount Cameroon

10. Time to change up the money!

Central African Franc (CFA (we’d want to call it CFA too!)) is the currency to keep in your pocket if you visit here… especially if you want to partake in a spot of cocktail drinking on one of the beaches!

11. It’s a tiny member of the UN.

It’s the smallest African country that’s a member of the United Nations.

12. There’s a tropical forest here.

Monte Alen National Park is a protected tropical forest that provides a haven to gorillas, leopards, elephants, chimpanzees and crocodiles, to name but a few! We like this, a lot!

13. Make your own mask!

Sculpture and mask making is a tradition here. We’d love to bring back some masks from our travels here…

Silverback Gorilla, Equatorial Guinea

14. Equatorial Guinea grows and exports all kinds of things.

Equatorial Guinea grows coffee, rice, cocoa and yams, rears livestock and produces timber – bet the coffee’s good here!

Its industry consists of petroleum, fishing, natural gas and saw-milling.

It also exports petroleum, methanol, cacao and timber.

15. What’s the national dish?

The national dish of Equatorial Guinea is succotash – a vegetarian dish of lima beans, vegetables and fresh herbs cooked with butter. Sounds delicious!

16. It’s easy to call Equatorial Guinea.

Want to call your friends in Equatorial Guinea?  You’ll need to use the international dialling code +240.