---
title: "Botswana — capital, area, population and currency"
description: "Botswana: capital Gaborone, area 581,730 km², population 2,562,122 (2025), currency Botswana pula. Languages, time zones and calling code."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country/botswana/
site: "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

- [Ukraine](https://atoneplace.net/country/ukraine/)
- [Madagascar](https://atoneplace.net/country/madagascar/)
- [Kenya](https://atoneplace.net/country/kenya/)
- [Yemen](https://atoneplace.net/country/yemen/)
- [Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country/nigeria/)
- [Ethiopia](https://atoneplace.net/country/ethiopia/)
- [Egypt](https://atoneplace.net/country/egypt/)
- [Democratic Republic of the Congo](https://atoneplace.net/country/democratic-republic-of-the-congo/)
- [Tanzania](https://atoneplace.net/country/tanzania/)
- [South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country/south-africa/)
- [Kenya](https://atoneplace.net/country/kenya/)
- [Sudan](https://atoneplace.net/country/sudan/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]