Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

is a

sub-Saharan Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

nation in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

located at 6 °N, 9 °W.

Area and boundaries

;Area :*total: :**''country rank in the world:'' 102nd :*land: :*water: ;Area — comparative: :* Australia comparative: approximately larger than

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

:* Canada comparative: approximately twice the size of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

:* United Kingdom comparative: slightly more than larger than

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

:* United States comparative: slightly larger than

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

:* EU comparative: approximately the size of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

;Land boundaries :*total: :*border countries:

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

(),

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

(),

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

() ;Coastline: :*

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

Physical geography

Liberia extends from between 4.21°N and 8.34°N to 7.27°W and 11.31°W. It is roughly rectangular measuring about in length from northwest to southeast, with a width of about . The coastline is about , including river mouths and inlets up to one kilometre wide. Drainage of the whole country is direct to the sea, with a series of short rivers flowing directly into the sea. These are, from west to east, the

Mano River The Mano River is a river in West Africa. It originates in the Guinea Highlands in Liberia and forms part of the Liberia-Sierra Leone border. The districts through which the river flows include the Parrot's Beak area of Guinea, Liberia's Lofa ...

on the border with Sierra Leone, the Mafa River, the

Lofa River The Lofa or Loffa is a river whose headwaters originate in eastern Guinea northeast of Macenta. The river runs southwest through northeastern Liberia before draining into the North Atlantic Ocean.(1) .(2) . Historically it has also been known as ...

, the

Saint Paul River The Saint Paul River is a river of western Africa. Its headwaters are in southeastern Guinea. Its upper portion in Guinea is known as the Diani River or Niandi River, and forms part of the boundary between Guinea and Liberia. It is known local ...

, the

Mesurado River Mesurado River is a river of Liberia. It flows through the capital of Monrovia and is crossed by the Gabriel Tucker Bridge, People's Bridge, built in the 1970s.Farmington River The Farmington River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river located in northwest Connecticut, with major tributaries extending into southwest Massach ...

, the Saint John River, the Timbo River, the

Cestos River The Cestos River, also known as Nuon or Nipoué river, is a Liberian river that rises in the Nimba Range of Guinea and flows south along the Ivory Coast border, then south-west through tracts of Liberian rain forest to empty into a bay on the Atl ...

, the Sehnkwehn River, the

Sinoe River The Sinoe River is a river of Liberia located in Sinoe County. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers app ...

, the Dugbe River, the Dubo River, the Grand Cess River and the

Cavalla River The Cavalla River (also known as the Cavally, the Youbou and the Diougou) is a river in West Africa, originating from north of Mont Nimba in Guinea, through Ivory Coast, to Zwedru in Liberia, and back to the border with Ivory Coast. It ends in ...

on the border with Ivory Coast. In the west, the coast is low and sandy, but in the central and eastern parts of the country it is sandy and rocky and of moderate relief, frequently broken by the mouths of the rivers. The coastal plain varies in width, being narrow between

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

and Buchanan, but being much wider in the west and in the Cestos Valley in the centre, narrowing again in the eastern end of the country. Further inland the land rises, sometimes with

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

s, to a plateau some above sea level. This is divided by the river valleys and there are hilly ridges between some of the river valleys. The land rises further in the north and northwest of the country, with mountains that exceed in several places, the highest point in the country being in the Wologizi Range at .

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of Liberia, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location. * Northernmost point – unnamed location on the border with

in the Sodia river immediately north of the town of Voinjama,

Lofa County Lofa is a county in the northernmost portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has nine districts. Voinjama serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring . A ...

. * Easternmost point – unnamed headland at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

Cavally river The Cavalla River (also known as the Cavally, the Youbou and the Diougou) is a river in West Africa, originating from north of Mont Nimba in Guinea, through Ivory Coast, to Zwedru in Liberia, and back to the border with Ivory Coast. It ends in ...

and the Hana river,

River Gee County River Gee is a county in the southern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Fish Town serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring . ...

. * Southernmost point – Kablaké headland,

Maryland County Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has two districts. Harper serves as the capital with the area of the county meas ...

. * Westernmost point - unnamed headland immediately west of the town of Sewulu at the mouth of the

Grand Cape Mount County Grand Cape Mount is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has five districts. Robertsport serves as the capital ...

Borders and maritime claims

The total length of Liberia's land

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

s is : with

on the northwest, with

to the north, and with

. Liberia claims an

Exclusive Economic Zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

of and .

Terrain

Liberia has a mostly hilly terrain, it also has rolling plains along the coast to a rolling plateau and low mountains in the northeast.

Elevation extremes

The lowest point on Liberia is at sea level on the Atlantic Ocean. The highest point on Liberia is above sea level at Mount Wuteve.

Natural resources

Natural resources that are found in Liberia include

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and hydropower.

Mining

Land use and agriculture

''arable land:'' 5.2%
''permanent crops:'' 2.1%
''permanent pastures:'' 20.8%
''forest:'' 44.6%
''other:'' 27.3% (2011)

Irrigated land

30 square kilometres of Liberia's land was irrigated as of 2012.

Natural hazards

The natural hazard that occurs in Liberia is a dust-laden

harmattan The Harmattan is a season in West Africa that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into th ...

wind that blows from the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

Area and boundaries

Physical geography

Extreme points

Borders and maritime claims

Terrain

Elevation extremes

Natural resources

Mining

Land use and agriculture

Irrigated land

Natural hazards

Environmental issues

Climate change

See also

References

External links