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West Africa

Guinea

Guinea is a western African country of roughly 15.1M people, covering 245,857 km² with its capital at Conakry. Its economy is worth about $23B in nominal terms, anchored by bauxite, gold, agriculture.

Population
15.1M
Projected population, 2026
Source: UN World Population Prospects
Capital
Conakry
GDP
$23B
Area
245,857 km²
Currency
Guinean franc

Map

Interactive map of GuineaWest AfricaMap placeholder

Overview

Guinea is a western African country of roughly 15.1M people, covering 245,857 km² with its capital at Conakry. Its economy is worth about $23B in nominal terms, anchored by bauxite, gold, agriculture.

Government

Guinea operates as a transitional government. Independence: 1958. Executive, legislative and judicial functions are exercised from Conakry.

Economy

Nominal GDP is approximately $23B, or around $1,527 per capita. The currency in circulation is the Guinean franc. Leading sectors are bauxite, gold, agriculture.

Population

Guinea has a projected population, 2026 of 15,060,917 people (United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects 2024 Revision, Online Edition — medium variant), a density of roughly 61 people per km². Values from 2024 onwards are medium-variant projections rather than live counts.

Cities

The largest urban centres are Conakry, Nzérékoré, Kankan. Conakry serves as the seat of government.

History

Modern Guinea took shape through pre-colonial states, the colonial partition of the late nineteenth century, and independence in 1958. Our History section covers each period in depth.

Languages

Widely used languages include French, Fula, Maninka. Official-language policy shapes schooling, courts and broadcasting.

Culture

Music, cuisine, film, textiles and sport in Guinea form part of a fast-growing creative economy with an expanding export footprint.

Education

Primary enrolment is near-universal in most of the region; the constraints sit at secondary completion, technical training and higher-education funding.

Healthcare

Health spending across Africa averages about 5.7% of GDP. Guinea's system combines public facilities, private providers and donor-funded programmes.

Business

Company registration, tax administration and access to finance are the practical determinants of doing business in Guinea. See our Business section for sector reporting.

Investment

Investors typically look at bauxite, infrastructure and consumer services. Regulatory clarity and FX access are the recurring diligence questions.

Tourism

Visitors come for landscape, heritage and city life. Entry requirements, seasonality and internal transport are covered in our Travel guides.

Transportation

Road remains dominant; rail, ports and aviation capacity vary sharply and are the focus of most current infrastructure investment.

Infrastructure

Electricity access, broadband coverage and logistics quality are the three infrastructure metrics most closely tied to Guinea's growth outlook.

Statistics

Full time series for population, GDP, trade, inflation, internet usage, education, health, tourism, agriculture and climate are published in The360Africa Data Center.

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