At One Place

Botswana

Botswana
Capital Gaborone
581,730 km² · 2,562,122 people (2025) · Botswana pula

The Kalahari covers about seventy percent of the country. The Okavango is one of the very few large deltas on Earth that never reaches the sea — the river spreads out into the sand and evaporates, flooding around 15,000 km² of the desert each year. North-east of it lie the Makgadikgadi pans, the remains of a lake bigger than Switzerland.

The facts

Capital
Gaborone
Area
581,730 km² — 224,607 sq mi
Population
2,562,122 (2025)
Density
4.4 people per km²
Currency
Botswana pula (BWP, P)
Official languages
English, Tswana
Time zone
UTC+02:00
Calling code
+267
Drives on the
left
ISO codes
BW · BWA
Continent
Africa

How it compares

By area
49 of 200
By population
144 of 200

Population is the only figure on this page that dates — it is a 2025 estimate and will drift. Area, capital, currency, languages, calling code and driving side change rarely or never.

Countries of a similar size

Country Area (km²) Population
Ukraine 603,550 38,980,376
Madagascar 587,041 32,740,678
Botswana ← 581,730 2,562,122
Kenya 580,367 57,532,493
Yemen 527,968 41,773,878

Common questions

What is the capital of Botswana?
Gaborone
What currency does Botswana use?
The Botswana pula (BWP).
How big is Botswana?
581,730 km², or 224,607 square miles — 49 of 200 by area.
Which side of the road does Botswana drive on?
The left.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))
  2. World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (CC BY 4.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked