AREA: total: 1,240,192 sq km
LANDLOCKED

BORDERING COUNTRIES: Algeria 1,359 km; Burkina Faso 1,325 km; Cote d’Ivoire 599 km; Guinea 1,062 km; Mauritania 2,236 km; Niger 838 km, Senegal 489 km

POPULATION: 21,359,722 (2023 est.)
POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LINE: 42.1% (2019 est.)

URBANIZATION: 36.3% of total population (2023)

ETHNIC GROUPS: Sudanese Arab (approximately 70%), Fur, Beja, Nuba, Ingessana, Uduk, Fallata, Masalit, Dajo, Gimir, Tunjur, Berti; there are over 500 ethnic groups

RELIGIONS: Sunni Muslim, small Christian minority

AGES:
0-14 years: 40.47% (male 10,115,311/female 9,793,060)

15-64 years: 56.35% (male 13,774,002/female 13,946,621)

65 years and over: 3.19% (2023 est.) (male 814,480/female 754,081)

GOVERNMENT TYPE:
Presidential Republic

INDEPENDENCE:
January 1, 1956 (from Egypt and UK)

CHIEF OF STATE: Sovereign Council Chair and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces General Abd-al-Fatah al-BURHAN Abd-al-Rahman; note – the 2019 Constitutional Declaration established a collective chief of state of the “Sovereign Council,” which was chaired by al-BURHAN; on 25 October 2021, al-BURHAN dissolved the Sovereign Council but reinstated it on 11 November 2021, replacing its civilian members (previously selected by the umbrella civilian coalition the Forces for Freedom and Change) with civilians of the military’s choosing; the Sovereign Council currently consists of 5 military-appointed civilians, 5 generals, and 3 representatives selected by former armed opposition groups

Head of government: Sovereign Council Chair and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces General Abd-al-Fatah al-BURHAN Abd-al-Rahman; Acting Prime Minister Osman HUSSEIN (since 19 January 2022); note – former Prime Minister Abdallah HAMDOUK resigned on 2 January 2022; HAMDOUK served as prime minister from August 2019 to October 2019 before he was kidnapped; he was later freed and reinstated as prime minister on 21 November 2021

MILITARY STRENGTH:
estimates vary widely; up to 200,000 SAF personnel; the strength of the RSF ranges from a low of about 30,000 to as many as 100,000 fighters; up to 80,000 Central Reserve Police (2023)

REFUGEES: 808,336 (South Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers), 137,402 (Eritrea) (refugees and asylum seekers), 93,477 (Syria) (refugees and asylum seekers), 72,334 (Ethiopia) (refugees and asylum seekers), 24,370 (Central African Republic) (2023)

IDPs: 1.67 million (armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan since 15 April 2023) (2023)

SOURCE: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/sudan/#military-and-security