Countries in Africa: the list of all 54 African countries and their capitals
There are 54 countries in Africa, all of them United Nations member states, under the UN M49 standard. Egypt, which reaches into Asia through the Sinai, is counted in Africa. Some lists give 56 by adding the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Somaliland, which have limited or no recognition. South Africa has three capitals.
How many countries are in Africa, and what are their capitals? This guide counts them with the M49 standard of the United Nations Statistics Division, explains why other lists say 56, writes out all 54 African countries with their capitals in five regions, and untangles the countries with more than one capital or a capital that has moved. At the end you can practise the whole list in a free world capitals trainer.
Key ideas
- Africa has 54 countries, all UN members and all members of the African Union; there are no UN observer states in Africa.
- Egypt is counted in Africa even though the Sinai Peninsula lies in Asia; territories such as Réunion, Mayotte or Saint Helena are not countries.
- Lists that add the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Somaliland reach 56 sovereign states.
- Several countries split their capital: South Africa has three, and Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Tanzania and Burundi each have two cities in the role.
How many countries are in Africa?
There are 54 countries in Africa under the M49 standard, the list of world regions kept by the United Nations Statistics Division. All 54 are UN member states, so Africa, unlike Europe and Asia, has no observer state in its count, and all 54 also belong to the African Union. M49 lists six more African areas that are not countries: Western Sahara, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the French Southern Territories, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint Helena.
Each country is counted in one continent only. Egypt reaches into Asia through the Sinai Peninsula, but it is counted as an African state. The island nations off the coast are African too: Cabo Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe and Seychelles. Going the other way, Malta and parts of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain sit on the African tectonic plate, and Spain’s Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla lie off or on the African coast, yet by convention they belong to European countries.
Some lists give 56 sovereign states in Africa. They add the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which claims Western Sahara and is a member of the African Union but not of the UN, and Somaliland, which runs itself independently from Hargeisa but which the UN treats as part of Somalia. Western Sahara’s status is disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi Republic. This guide and the world capitals tool count the 54 UN member states, so every country belongs to exactly one continent.
List of African countries and their capitals
Here are all 54, alphabetically within each M49 region; the last four regions together make up what M49 calls Sub-Saharan Africa. Northern Africa, 6 countries: Algeria — Algiers, Egypt — Cairo, Libya — Tripoli, Morocco — Rabat, Sudan — Khartoum, Tunisia — Tunis.
Eastern Africa, 18 countries: Burundi — Gitega, Comoros — Moroni, Djibouti — Djibouti, Eritrea — Asmara, Ethiopia — Addis Ababa, Kenya — Nairobi, Madagascar — Antananarivo, Malawi — Lilongwe, Mauritius — Port Louis, Mozambique — Maputo, Rwanda — Kigali, Seychelles — Victoria, Somalia — Mogadishu, South Sudan — Juba, Tanzania — Dodoma, Uganda — Kampala, Zambia — Lusaka, Zimbabwe — Harare.
Middle Africa, 9 countries: Angola — Luanda, Cameroon — Yaoundé, Central African Republic — Bangui, Chad — N’Djamena, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinea — Ciudad de la Paz (Malabo until 2026), Gabon — Libreville, Republic of the Congo — Brazzaville, São Tomé and Príncipe — São Tomé.
Southern Africa, 5 countries: Botswana — Gaborone, Eswatini — Mbabane (also Lobamba), Lesotho — Maseru, Namibia — Windhoek, South Africa — Pretoria (also Cape Town and Bloemfontein).
Western Africa, 16 countries: Benin — Porto-Novo (government in Cotonou), Burkina Faso — Ouagadougou, Cabo Verde — Praia, Côte d’Ivoire — Yamoussoukro (economic capital Abidjan), Gambia — Banjul, Ghana — Accra, Guinea — Conakry, Guinea-Bissau — Bissau, Liberia — Monrovia, Mali — Bamako, Mauritania — Nouakchott, Niger — Niamey, Nigeria — Abuja, Senegal — Dakar, Sierra Leone — Freetown, Togo — Lomé.
Which African countries have more than one capital?
South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria is the executive capital, Cape Town the legislative one and Bloemfontein the judicial one. Eswatini divides the role between Mbabane, the administrative capital, and Lobamba, the royal and legislative capital. In Benin, Porto-Novo is the official capital and Cotonou the seat of government in practice. Côte d’Ivoire’s capital is Yamoussoukro, while Abidjan, the former capital and largest city, is the economic capital and still hosts some government offices. Tanzania’s capital is Dodoma, but Dar es Salaam, the former capital, still hosts some ministries, the judiciary and the embassies. Burundi’s capital is Gitega; Bujumbura was the capital from 1962 to 2018 and is still the capital in practice.
Several capitals are new. Nigeria moved its capital from Lagos, the capital from 1914 to 1991, to Abuja. Equatorial Guinea’s capital is Ciudad de la Paz, a planned city on the mainland still under construction; Malabo, on the island of Bioko, was the capital until 2026. Egypt’s capital is Cairo, and a new administrative capital is being built east of it. Old maps and quiz books may still show Malabo or Bujumbura, so check the date of whatever you learn from.
How to learn the capitals of Africa
With 54 countries, Africa is the biggest list to learn, so take it one region at a time and watch for lookalike names. Guinea’s capital is Conakry, Guinea-Bissau’s is Bissau and Equatorial Guinea’s is Ciudad de la Paz. The Republic of the Congo has Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has Kinshasa. Niger has Niamey and Nigeria has Abuja; Sudan has Khartoum and South Sudan has Juba. Learn each pair together, so the difference is what you remember.
The free world capitals tool at VITON13 SCHOOL helps you do that. Its searchable list has all 195 countries, the 193 UN members and the 2 observer states, with their capitals; filter it by continent to see only the 54 African countries. In the trainer, choose Africa, pick country → capital or capital → country, answer by typing or with multiple choice and follow your score. When the round ends, run “repeat my mistakes” to practise only the ones you missed. To fix each country’s place in your head, play the find-the-country quiz on the interactive world map.
In everyday language
A capital is the city where a country keeps its government. Most African countries keep it all in one city, but a few share the work. South Africa is like a family with three houses: one where decisions are made (Pretoria), one where the rules are written (Cape Town) and one where disputes are judged (Bloemfontein).
Try it yourself
Open the world capitals tool, filter the list to Africa and check that it shows 54 countries. Then start the trainer for Africa, capital → country, with multiple choice, finish a round and follow it with a “repeat my mistakes” round.
Expected result
Fifty-four countries in the Africa filter, a score after the first round, and a second round made only of the capitals you got wrong.
Check your answer: Match the capitals Conakry, Bissau and Ciudad de la Paz to Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.
Guinea — Conakry, Guinea-Bissau — Bissau, Equatorial Guinea — Ciudad de la Paz (the capital since 2026; before that, Malabo).
Questions
Is Egypt in Africa or Asia?
Mostly in Africa. The Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, lies in Asia, but Egypt is counted as an African country by the UN M49 standard and by most lists.
What is the capital of South Africa?
South Africa has three: Pretoria is the executive capital, where the government sits, Cape Town is the legislative capital, home to parliament, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.
Africa has 54 countries under the UN count, 56 if you add the Sahrawi Republic and Somaliland. Learn their capitals one region at a time in the free VITON13 SCHOOL world capitals trainer, pair up the lookalike names, and finish every session with a round of your own mistakes.