Republic of Djibouti
Eastern Africa
Volcanic · Salt · Strategic
Djibouti (officially Republic of Djibouti) is a country located in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Djibouti City, with other major cities including Ali Sabieh and Tadjourah. With a population of approximately 1.0M, the main languages spoken are French, Arabic. The country covers an area of 23,200 km². The official currency is the Djiboutian franc (Fr). Traffic drives on the right side.
Djibouti hosts more foreign military bases than almost any other nation — the US, France, China, Japan, and Italy all maintain military installations in this tiny country at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Djibouti City serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Djibouti, positioned in Eastern Africa. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Ali Sabieh, Tadjourah — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Djibouti City occupies a coastal strip at the mouth of the Red Sea where container ships waiting to transit the Suez Canal anchor in roadsteads visible from the city's French colonial boulevards — a capital whose strategic location has made it home to military bases from France, the United States, Japan, and China simultaneously, an unprecedented concentration of foreign military presence in a city of 600,000.
With a population of approximately 1.0M, Djibouti is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The principal languages spoken are French, Arabic, which reflect the country's cultural heritage and open doors to a wide international community. Internationally, Djibouti is reached via the dialling code +253. Djiboutians navigate the Afar-Issa ethnic divide that mirrors the country's two dominant communities, with Somali-speaking Issa in the south and Afar-speaking communities in the north reflecting a pastoral nomadic heritage that predates the French colonial boundary-drawing that created Djibouti as a Territory of the Afars and Issas before independence in 1977.
Djibouti spans 23,200 km², in the Eastern Africa subregion of Africa. Geographically centred around 11.5°N, 43.0°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the right-hand rule, in line with surrounding Africa convention.
The official currency is the Djiboutian franc (Fr), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Djibouti's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+03:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.
Football holds a special place in the heart of Djibouti's national identity. Football and athletics compete for Djibouti's sporting attention, with the country producing distance runners who compete internationally — training at altitude in the volcanic highlands providing natural physiological advantages — while traditional camel racing remains a prestigious event at national celebrations where prize camels can be worth more than the country's average annual per-capita income.
The highest point in Djibouti is Moussa Ali, rising to 2,021 metres above sea level. Lake Assal at 155 metres below sea level is the lowest point in Africa and one of the world's saltiest bodies of water — a crater lake in the Afar Triangle where three tectonic plates meet and are slowly separating, making this region the only place on Earth where the spreading of an ocean floor can be observed on land above sea level.