How Many Nations in Western Africa
Located in west part of Africa, Western Africa is composed of 16 countries. Here is an alphabetical list of all countries in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Among them, two of which belong to the PALOP (Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau):
1. Benin
Benin is a West African state that was formerly a French colony and hence French is the official language of the country. More than 10 million people live in the country and the country’s state is a republic.
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2. Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a state in West Africa bordering Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Togo. The country consists mostly of savannah and more than 15 million people live in Burkina Faso.
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3. Cape Verde
Cape Verde, formally the Republic of Cape Verde, is a state encompassing an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 500 kilometers west of Cape Verde on the African mainland.
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4. Ivory Coast
Côte d’Ivoire is a republic in West Africa on the Atlantic Ocean bordering Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Mali. The country is a former French colony and the country is a successful football nation.
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5. The Gambia
The Gambia, formally the Republic of the Gambia, is a state in West Africa on the Atlantic, bordering Senegal, which besides the coastline surrounds the country. The Gambia is the smallest state on the surface on the African continent.
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6. Ghana
Ghana, formally the Republic of Ghana, is a republic in West Africa. The country borders Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east and the Gulf of Guinea to the south.
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7. Guinea
Guinea, formally the Republic of Guinea, is a state in West Africa. Guinea is located on the Atlantic coast between Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, and borders Senegal and Mali to the north, Côte d’Ivoire to the east and Liberia to the south.
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8. Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau, formally the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a state in West Africa with a coast to the Atlantic. The country, the former Portuguese colony of Portuguese Guinea, borders Senegal to the north, Guinea to the south and east.
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9. Liberia
Liberia, formally the Republic of Liberia, is a state in West Africa on the Atlantic coast, bordering Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic and its second oldest independent state after Ethiopia.
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10. Mali
Mali, formally the Republic of Mali, is a coastal state in West Africa. Mali, the seventh largest country in Africa, borders Algeria to the north, Niger to the east, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire to the south, Guinea to the southwest and Senegal and Mauritania to the west. The population amounted to 14.5 million residents at the 2009 census.
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11. Mauritania
Mauritania, formally the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a state in northwestern Africa bordering Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Western Sahara and the Atlantic. The country also borders Morocco since February 27, 1976, when Morocco occupied Western Sahara.
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12. Niger
Niger, formally the Republic of Niger, is a state in the interior of West Africa, bordering Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, Nigeria and Chad. The country is named after the Niger River, which flows through the southwestern corner of the area.
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13. Nigeria
Nigeria, formally the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa consisting of thirty-six states and its so-called Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and the seventh most populous country in the world.
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14. Senegal
Senegal, formally the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost state on the African continent, located on the Atlantic Ocean. The country borders the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Mauritania.
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15. Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, formally the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a state in West Africa. It borders Guinea to the north and Liberia to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast.
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16. Togo
Togo, formally the Republic of Togo, is a state in West Africa bordering Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. To the south, the country has a short coastal strip towards the Gulf of Guinea, where the capital Lomé is located.
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Countries in Western Africa by Population and Their Capitals
As noted above, there are sixteen independent countries in the Western Africa. Among them, the largest country is Nigeria and the smallest one is Cape Verde in term of population. The full list of Western African countries with capitals is shown in the table below, ranked by latest total population.
| Rank | Country | Population | Land Area (km²) | Capital |
| 1 | Nigeria | 200,963,599 | 910,768 | Abuja |
| 2 | Ghana | 30,280,811 | 227,533 | Accra |
| 3 | Côte d’Ivoire | 25,823,071 | 318,003 | Yamoussoukro |
| 4 | Niger | 22,314,743 | 1,266,700 | Niamey |
| 5 | Burkina Faso | 20,870,060 | 273,602 | Ouagadougou |
| 6 | Mali | 19,973,000 | 1,220,190 | Bamako |
| 7 | Senegal | 16,209,125 | 192,530 | Dakar |
| 8 | Guinea | 12,218,357 | 245,717 | Conakry |
| 9 | Benin | 11,733,059 | 114,305 | Porto-Novo |
| 10 | Sierra Leone | 7,901,454 | 71,620 | Freetown |
| 11 | Togo | 7,538,000 | 54,385 | Lome |
| 12 | Liberia | 4,475,353 | 96,320 | Monrovia |
| 13 | Mauritania | 4,077,347 | 1,025,520 | Nouakchott |
| 14 | Gambia | 2,347,706 | 10,000 | Banjul |
| 15 | Guinea-Bissau | 1,604,528 | 28,120 | Bissau |
| 16 | Cape Verde | 550,483 | 4,033 | Praia |
Map of West African Countries
