From wikipedia about Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial
Guinea, officially the Republic of
Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Middle Africa. It comprises two parts: a Continental Region (Río Muni), including several small offshore islands like Corisco, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico; and an insular region containing Annobón island and Bioko island (formerly Fernando Po) where the capital Malabo is situated.
Annobón is the southernmost island of
Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of
Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the east is the mainland region.
Equatorial Guinea is bordered by
Cameroon on the north,
Gabon on the south and east, and the Gulf of
Guinea on the west, where the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is located between Bioko and Annobón. Formerly the colony of Spanish
Guinea, its post-independence name is suggestive of its location near both the equator and the Gulf of
Guinea. Besides the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the Mediterranean coast next to
Morocco, it is the only territory in mainland Africa with Spanish as the official language.
With an area of
Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It is also the richest per capita; however, the wealth is distributed very unevenly, with 70% of the population living under the United Nations Poverty Threshold of $2/day. With a population of 650, 702,
Equatorial Guinea is the third smallest country in continental Africa.
Seychelles, The Gambia,
Djibouti,
Rwanda,
Burundi,
Cape Verde,
Comoros,
Swaziland, and São Tomé and Príncipe are smaller in terms of area, and
Djibouti and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic have smaller populations, although the population of the latter is disputed It is also the second smallest United Nations (UN) member from continental Africa.
The discovery of sizeable petroleum reserves in recent years is altering the economic and political status of the country. Its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ranks 28th in the world;CIA World Factbook :. however, most of the country's considerable oil wealth actually lies in the hands of only a few people.
Equatorial
Guinea has one of the worst human rights records in the world, consistently ranking among the "worst of the worst" in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil rights and Reporters Without Borders ranks President Obiang among its "predators" of press freedom.
Equatorial Guinea ranks 9th highest in the Human Development Index (HDI) and 115th overall, which is among the medium HDI countries.
