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Where is Gabon?
About Gabon
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

Gabon is an above average size country in west Africa.

Gabon borders the Atlantic Ocean.

The land is hilly with a narrow coastal plain.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Gabon, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 1 00S
Longitude - 11 45E

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Check the weather in Libreville now.

This is the time in Libreville now

The Gabonese flag is three equal horizontal stripes of green, at the top, yellow and blue. Green represents the country's forests and natural resources, gold represents the equator, which goes through Gabon, as well as the sun, blue represents the sea.

The capital of Gabon is Libreville.

Gabon is a presidential republic with a president as head of state and head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Gabon is the Central African franc.

French is the official language.

Hear the National Anthem


These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Gabonese National Anthem called The Concord. It was adopted in 1960. This is a translation of the words. If anthem fails to play click here

Chorus (follows each verse):
United in concord and brotherhood,
Awake, Gabon, dawn is at hand.
Stir up the spirit that thrills and inspires us!
At last we rise up to attain happiness. At last we rise up to attain happiness.

Dazzling and proud, the sublime day dawns,
Dispelling for ever injustice and shame.
May it still advance and calm our fears,
May it promote virtue and banish warfare.

Yes, may the happy days of which our ancestors dreamed 
Come for us at last, rejoicing our hearts, 
And banish the sorcerers, those perfidious deceivers 
Who sowed poison and spread fear. 

So that, in the eyes of the world and of friendly nations, 
The immortal Gabon may maintain her good repute, 
Let us forget our quarrels, let us build together 
The new structure of which we all have dreamed. 

From the shores of the Ocean to the heart of the forest,
Let us remain vigilant, without weakness and without hatred! 
Around this flag which leads us to honour, 
Let us salute the Fatherland and ever sing! 

We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Gabon to provide us with a detailed history of their own country. Check how here.


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The total land area of Gabon is 257,667 sq kms which is the 31st largest in Africa.

Gabon has lakes, rivers and canals which total 10,000 sq kms.

Gabon has boundaries with 3 countries

• Republic of Congo 2,567 kms
• Cameroon 349 kms
• Equitorial Guinea 345 kms

Gabon has a coastline of 885 kms which is the 16th longest in Africa.

The highest point in Gabon is Mont Iboundji at 1,575 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Gabon is 2.12 million people, making it the 45th largest country in Africa by population.

Of this number 1.01 million are females and 1.11 million are males.

A person from Gabon is called a Gabonese.

To be a citizen of Gabon, one of your parents must be a citizen of Gabon. It is not sufficient to be born in Gabon. You have to live in Gabon for 10 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Gabon, by population are:-

• Libreville 578,156 people
• Port-Gentil 109,163
• Franceville 42,967
• Oyem 30,870
• Moanda 30,151

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



89.4% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Gabon is 26.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Gabon is 6.2 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 29.3 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 36.4 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 20.2 and for males is 20.8. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 20.3.

The elderly dependency ratio is 7.6. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 13.2. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Gabon spends 3.4% of its total income on health care.

There are 0.36 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 6.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

15.0% of the population are estimated as obese.

97.2% of the urban population and 66.7% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

43.4% of the urban population and 31.5% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Gabon releases 6.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 19th highest in Africa.

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Gabon spends 2.7% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Gabon. Primary education is for five years until age 11 and secondary education must continue till 16 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

We are awaiting information about school terms in Gabon.

81.0% of females and 85.3% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

35.7% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 41.9% are unemployed while with males 30.5% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Gabon is 557,800.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

28.0% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 14 paved airports in Gabon, which is the 17th highest number in Africa.


There are 810 kilometres of railways in Gabon, the 23rd longest in Africa.


There are 9,170 kilometres of roads in Gabon, which means Gabon is in 40th place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.

There is 1 major national newspaper in Gabon.

There are 2.66 million mobile phone users.

1% of the people have a fixed landline.



835,408 people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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