Back to the Flags of Africa page

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

Guinea Bissau is a below average size country in western Africa. There are numerous off-shore islands.

Guinea Bissau borders the Atlantic Ocean.

The land is mostly low-lying.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Guinea Bissau, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 12 00N
Longitude - 15 00W

   Back to the top

Check the weather in Bissau now.

This is the time in Bissau now

The Bissau Guinean flag is two equal horizontal stripes of yellow, at the top, and green with a vertical red stripe on the flag pole side. There is a black five-pointed star centred in the red band. Yellow represents the sun, green denotes hope and red represents blood shed during the struggle for independence. The black star stands for African unity.

The capital of Guinea Bissau is Bissau.

Guinea Bissau is a semi-presidential republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Guinea Bissau is the African franc.

Portuguese is the official language.

Hear the National Anthem


These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Irish National Anthem called This Is Our Beloved Country. It was adopted in 1974. This is a translation of the words.
If anthem fails to play click here

Sun, sweat, verdure and sea,
Centuries of pain and hope;,
This is the land of our ancestors.,
Fruit of our hands,,
Of the flower of our blood:,
This is our beloved country.

Chorus:

Long live our glorious country!,
The banner of our struggle has fluttered in the skies.
Forward, against the foreign yoke!
We are going to build,
Peace and progress in our immortal country!,
Peace and progress in our immortal country!

Branches of the same trunk,
Eyes in the same light;
This is the force of our unity!
The sea and the land,
The dawn and the sun are singing,
That our struggle has borne fruit!

Chorus

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


   Back to the top

The total land area of Guinea Bissau is 28,120 sq kms which is the 44th largest in Africa.

Guinea Bissau has lakes, rivers and canals which total 8,005 sq kms.

Guinea Bissau has boundaries with 2 countries

• Guinea 421 kms
• Senegal 341 kms

Guinea Bissau has a coastline of 350 kms which is the 28th longest in Africa.

The highest point in Guinea Bissau is unnamed at 300 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.

   Back to the top

The total population of Guinea Bissau is 4.95 million people, making it the 25th largest country in Africa by population.

Of this number 2.48 million are females and 2.47 million are males.

A person from Guinea Bissau is called a Bissau Guinean.

To be a citizen of Guinea Bissau you or your parents can be born in Guinea Bissau . You have to live in Guinea Bissau for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Guinea Bissau, by population are:-

• Bissau 388,028 people
• Bafata 22,521
• Gabu 14,430
• Bissora 12,688
• Bolama 10,769

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.



43.4% of the people live in cities or towns.

   Back to the top

The birth rate in Guinea Bissau is 37.3 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Guinea Bissau is 8.5 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 48.4 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 61.0 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 18.5 and for males is 17.2. 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.

We have no figures for the average age of a woman when she has her first child.

The elderly dependency ratio is 5.2. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 19.3. 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.

   Back to the top

Guinea Bissau spends 5.6% of its total income on health care.

There are 0.2 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 1.0 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

9.5% of the population are estimated as obese.

98.8% of the urban population and 60.3% 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.

33.5% of the urban population and 8.5% 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.

Guinea Bissau releases 0.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 37th highest in Africa.

   Back to the top

Guinea Bissau spends 2.1% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 7 in Guinea Bissau. Primary education is for six years until age 13 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 waiting for information for school terms in Guinea Bissau.

48.3% of females and 71.8% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

We have no figures for the number of people aged between 16 and 24 who are not in work.

The total number of people available for work in Guinea Bissau is 731,300.

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

We have no figures for the persentage of the workforce who are unemployed.

   Back to the top

There are 2 paved airports in Guinea Bissau, which is the 46th highest number in Africa.


There are no railways in Guinea Bissau.


There are 3,455 kilometres of roads in Guinea Bissau, which means Guinea Bissau is in 46th place for the most kilometres of roads in Africa.

There are no major national newspapers in Guinea Bissau.

There are 1.43 million mobile phone users.

0% of the people have a fixed landline.



66,169 people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

   Back to the top