Peoples' Profiles

Sudan is the largest country in Africa, covering 2.5 million square kilometres (967,500 square miles).

Bordering the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya and Uganda, the country consists of desert, savannah and tropical areas.

Sudan's population is one of the most diverse on the African continent, with hundreds of ethnic and tribal subdivisions and language groups. This diversity contributes richness to the culture but can also make collaboration between groups a major political challenge.

According to the disputed census of 2008, Sudan's population reached 40.2 million. Southern Sudan was reported to have have a population of just over 8  million people. Southerners consider this to be a gross underestimation of their numbers. The most reliable census before independence in 1956 put the number of Southerners to 5 million out of 15 millions for the whole country. So Southerners have always considered their population at 1/3 of the population, the basis for the sharing of power and wealth in the comprehensive Peace Agreement, CPA, of january 2005. 

Learn more about the Peoples of Southern Sudan in these pages.