Libya
Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya الجماهيرية العربية الليبية الشعبية الاشتراكية (ar.) al-Jamāhīrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Lībīyah ash-Sha'bīyah al-Ishtirākīyah | |
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Anthem: Tamam Saidi | |
Capital | Tripoli |
Official languages | Arabic |
Recognised regional languages | |
Demonym(s) | Libyan |
Government | Unitary socialist single-party republic |
Her Excellency Hawwa al-Amman | |
Jamal Qayyum | |
Legislature | General People's Congress of Libya |
National Assembly | |
Establishment | |
5th of November 1912, Annexed by Italy | |
• Republic of Tripoli | 1919 |
• Annexation by the United Kingdom | 1924 |
• Independence | 1st of April 1959 |
Area | |
• Total | [convert: invalid number] |
Population | |
• Census | 8.345.293 (2019) |
Currency | Libyan Dinar (LYD) |
Time zone | (UTC +2 |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +58 |
ISO 3166 code | AND |
Internet TLD | .upca |
The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, commonly referred to as Libya (Arabic ليبيا Lībiyā) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the countries of Algeria and Tunisia to the west and northwest respectively, Egypt to the east and Chad to the south. To the southwest there is a border to Niger. To the north Libya has a coastline of around 1,770 kilometres to the Mediterranean Sea. The Libyan population consists of around 8.3 million people, of whom 95% are Arab in descent, mostly affiliated with the islamic faith at around 90% with a significant Coptic and catholic Crhistian minority being present. The vast majority of Libyans live along the coastline, with around a quarter of them living in the capital Tripoli. Other significant cities are Benghazi and Misrata. Libya has historically been divided into three historical regions, Tripolitania in the north west, Fezzan in the south west and Cyrenaica in the east.